A New Start
by Moonsetta
Summary: This time, Stockman's the evil mastermind but what did he do to the three youngest turtles? O-O Dedicated to everyone who's a brother or sister. COMPLETE! ALT ending COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

Guess what? It's another story, but it'll probably be awhile before I work on this one though. I wanted to at least get this preview up before I did anything else.

I don't own TMNT.

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A New Start 

Preview:

Leo rubbed his temples as he stared at the glowing screen, "Anything Leatherhead?"

"I'm afraid not Leonardo," the mutant crocodile said with a sigh as he turned away from a giant computer screen he was using, "There's nothing I can do. I fear they will remain this way."

"Leo?" a quiet voice said from behind them.

The two mutants turned and watched as a small green form flew towards the blue clad turtle. The blue clad turtle sighed and bent down to scoop the small turtle tot into his arms. The young turtle's red mask stood out against his dark green skin as he wrapped his tiny arms around Leo's neck.

"You have a nightmare?" Leo asked his younger brother.

The young turtle shook his head, "It's Mikey, he knocked me and Donny out of the bed again."

Leo groaned, "I don't know what I'm going to do with that hyperactive turtle."

The blue clad turtle turned to Leatherhead once again, "Are you positive that nothing can be done?"

"I'm sorry my friend," the mutant crocodile said apologetically, his eyes falling to the floor in sorrow, "There's no reversing the process but I'll continue looking and if you need any help, please let me know."

Leo stood up with his little brother still in his arms before bowing to Leatherhead, "You've done more than enough for us, thank you."

"I'll help you with anything you need."

"Thank you," Leo said again, standing up and shifting the red masked turtle in his arms, who rested his head against the blue clad turtle's shoulder before yawning and blinking slowly, "We'll-I'll be eternally grateful for anything you can do for us. You're welcome to stay as long as you wish, please excuse me, this little one needs to get to bed."

Leatherhead nodded and turned back to the computer as Leo walked to his room to see his purple masked little brother on the floor next to a fold up bed, where his baby brother was curled into a ball shivering, for the blanket was wrapped tightly around Don. The turtle tot in his arms stirred and Leo glanced down to see bright hues of blue staring back at him.

"Leo?" the tot asked.

"Raphael, you should be sleeping."

"Bu, Mikey kicks us ot bed n' Don never eben wakes up," Raph muttered as his speech slurred through his woozy mind.

"Want to stay with me tonight?" Leo asked.

Raph smiled and nodded slowly. Leo held him with one arm as he slipped Don back into the bed next to Mikey with the other and tried to untangle the blanket with his only free hand. Finally succeeding, he tucked the blanket around his two sleeping younger brothers before walking over to his futon bed and laying down with Raph still resting his head on his shoulder.

As the night began to age Leo glanced down at Raphael then across the room at Donatello and Michelangelo. All went from 16 to four in a matter of minutes. The eldest turtle glanced at the ceiling. Stockman would pay for this. As the evening became even blacker Leo sent a silent prayer into the heavens.

"Father, help me," Leo whispered.

* * *

Well, I'll expand this into it's story form later but I have "MY Brother" and "The Art of Brotherhood" to finish and all my schoolwork. I can't believe I finally got into college courses in my new high school. Wish me luck. Oh and review please? I need to know if anyone's interested or if I should just dump it. Oh and I know I talk about deleting stories a lot. That's because, truthfully, I delete half the stuff I write since it's absolutely terrible. If I posted everything I wrote I would probably have to have a search box on my profile for people to find the story that they want.

~Moonsetta (Writer Extraordinaire! ^_^ Not really… -_-')


	2. Ch 1 Trouble and Memories

Ok, I decided to update this before school tommorrow. YAY! ^-^

I don't own TMNT.

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The first week was torture on the blue clad turtle.

"_No Michelangelo, you may not eat the rock."_

"_Donatello do not put the plastic bag over your head!"_

"_Don't explain, just put the alligator back where you found it."_

"_Raphael why did you stick a fishbowl on Donatello's head?"_

"_Michelangelo how did you manage to glue Raphael's mask to the ceiling?"_

"_No Donatello, you may not kill Raphael for destroying the toaster. Wait, where did you get that sledgehammer?" O_O'_

"_You're not tall enough to reach either the kitchen or bathroom sink, where did this water come from?"_

"_Michelangelo why is Raphael completely pink?"_

"_Where did you get that wig?"_

"_Stop scaring your brother with those fake bugs."_

"_Stop hitting your brother for scaring you."_

"_No, you may not watch "Ninja Zombies" at 2:00am."_

"_Donatello, why is all the food in the refrigerator glowing green?"_

"_Michelangelo, is there a specific reason why you locked your brothers in the closet?"_

"_Raphael please remove the underwear from your brother's face."_

"_NO! DO NOT EAT THAT GREEN FOOD! I DON'T CARE IF DR. SUESS ENCOURAGES IT!"_

Leonardo, long tired from the crazy week, collapsed into his father's old armchair. He sat in relaxing silence for a few seconds before a beep on the nearby computer warned him of someone outside. He looked at the screen that was covered with a video feed and saw that it was Leatherhead. He let his fellow mutant in, listening for any of his little brothers' voices.

"You seem tired Leonardo," Leatherhead observed as the blue clad turtle closed the door.

"I have no idea how my father put up with it. I could barely keep them out of trouble when we were teenagers, they're toddlers now. Uh…"

With that Leo slipped down the door before landing on the floor.

"You should sleep," Leatherhead said.

"I will, but Raphael's sick since Michelangelo decided to try to see if turtles could breath through thick sewage water. He's waking up every few hours and he can't keep anything down. He's currently the one keeping me sane," Leo explained.

Just then a crash came from upstairs in the far right room where Don and Mikey were sleeping.

"IT'S MINE!"

"I SAW IT FIRST!"

Leo sighed, "Do you think you could keep Donatello distracted while I try to get Mikey to go to sleep?"

"Of course Leonardo."

"You're a life savior, in so many ways," the blue clad turtle said while rolling his eyes and climbing to his feet.

"Donatello! Leatherhead's here to see you," Leo called out when he jumped up to the second level of their home.

"YAY!" Don shouted from inside the room before he dashed outside where Leo scooped him into his arms.

"Not so fast Einstein Jr." Leo said with an affectionate smile while rubbing his purple masked little brother's head.

"Put me down big brother, I want to see Leatherhead," Don protested, his tiny olive green hands pressing against Leo's hard yellow plastron.

The eldest laughed and jumped down to the first level of their home, setting his little brother down and letting him go running off to his friend who was sitting by the large computer they had set up against the wall. The blue clad turtle was thankful for Leatherhead's help, everything Don had previously known, would have to be taught to him again. Leatherhead had become an excellent teacher during the week since the incident. Leo almost reflected back on it, until he heard his baby brother upstairs begin to cry. The blue masked turtle sighed and jumped in front of the room the three younger turtles shared, except for Raph at the moment. Raph was now in what used to be his old room, when he was still 16. Leo had had to move him when he came in from savaging one day to find his red clad younger brother, shaking with chills, burning up with fever and throwing up all his meals from the day. Needless to say, he wasn't going to get healthier around Don and Mikey, the two youngest were always fighting! -_-

Leo walked into the shared bedroom to see Mikey laying on his bed, crying with his face buried in his pillow.

"Mikey? What's wrong?" Leo said in a calming voice as he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed while he rested his hand on his baby brother's shell.

Mikey whimpered, "Donny left, he doesn't want to play with me and Raph just sleeps all day."

Leo narrowed his eyes a bit, "Well Michelangelo, you were the one who pushed Raphael into the drainage drop, because of that he's sick and needs to sleep to get better. Don's just trying to learn everything again."

"Big brother," Mikey asked with a sniff, "Will you tell me about our father again? I still don't remember him."

Leo mentally sighed, yes, it was true, whatever Stockman had did to them, it had erased their memories, all they could remember were their names and the fact that Leo was their older brother. The week had slowly revealed that Donatello's mass intelligence had been lost, because his small brain couldn't absorb all the information, that's why Leatherhead and April had become his teachers. Strangely, it was Mikey that seemed to bond with Casey and Angel while Raphael always followed the eldest turtle around. So with great reluctance, Leo told tales from their past, hoping that recognition would eventually come to Mikey, Unfortunately, the young orange banded turtle remembered nothing still, but the stories calmed him down enough to put him to sleep. Despite the disappointment, Leo smiled softly and tucked the small orange blanket around his baby brother before pulling a box out from under the bed and fishing out a small orange bear Mikey had used back when he really was four. The eldest tucked it under Mikey's arm and then turned out the light before slipping back outside and down to the first floor where found Leatherhead packing a few things into a bag he carried. The large mutant crocodile motioned to the sleeping form that was lying limply across a large textbook.

"I must return for tonight, it is very late," Leatherhead said.

"I'm sorry to bother you again Leatherhead, I'm just not as knowledgeable as Donatello or you."

"I am happy to help at any time."

With that, Leatherhead left the turtles' lair and Leonardo scooped up the slumbering Donatello, slipping him into his bed and slipping back to the first floor with barely a sound. Finally, he could have some peace and quiet! He lit a row of candles and sat down behind them, relaxing as his mind began to settle peacefully on the edge of unconsciousness. He accepted the can't-possibly-last-that-long feeling of peace so endearingly he didn't hear the shuffling feet approach him, or the tiny form copying his sitting stance and sitting next to him. Of course, all good things must come to an end. A sneeze brought him out of his state of serenity and Leo gazed beside him to see Raphael sniffing and rubbing his dry, irritated blue eyes.

"Raphael, you should be in bed," Leo said suddenly, causing the younger turtle to jump.

"Sorry big brother," Raph said in his young scratchy voice as his tiny hand covered his mouth as he coughed, "I can't sleep, too much coughing and sneezing."

"And throwing up," Leo added mentally, it would take forever to get the bathroom back into an… ok condition.

"What were you doing sitting here?" Raph asked, tilting his small head to the left in a cute way, his blue eyes catching the light and shining despite the busted blood vessels within them.

Leo frowned, another thing they had forgotten, ninjitsu. The eldest knew it would come down to him teaching them as their father had. He wasn't sure if he could do it though.

"I was meditating?"

"What meditating?"

"It's something I do to relax," Leo answered, climbing to his feet and glancing down as his little brother got to his feet as well.

"So you just sit here?"

"It's kind of like thinking, for a long time," Leo said, hoping that would tide the curious youngster over for the time being.

"I'm thirsty," Raph commented and then sneezed a large sneeze, causing him to fall onto his shell.

Leo laughed and scooped up the embarrassed turtle tot, "Alright, I could use a nice relaxing cup of green tea myself."

"What's that taste like?" Raph asked as he laid his head on Leo's grassy green shoulder.

"It has a unique taste," Leo explained though he saw the clear confusion on Raph's face, "You'd have to taste it to know."

"Can I have some?"

Leo almost stopped in his tracks and for a moment, he remember his 16 year old brother Raphael. The red clad turtle was never this childish, well ok, he was four now, well- again. But remembering Raph's hit-now-ask-questions-later attitude, the bleu clad turtle embraced the slight feeling of loneliness. Raph had always been there to spar with him, fight with him, make sure he didn't get a big head by constantly questioning him and rebelling against him, but at the same time talking with him when no one else understood and being the one the eldest leaned on when he was weak. This just wasn't the life he knew. This wasn't the brother he had lived 16 years of his life with. Being aged in reverse gave them second chances on observing and embracing life. His little brothers would always be Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo, but now they would make different choices, because the life thrown at them was different.

"Big brother Leo," Raph called out, waving a tiny hand in front of his older brother's eyes which seemed to snap the eldest out of his train of thoughts.

"Sorry Raphie, let's get that green tea," Leo said with a smile, because despite the loss, not everything was completely gone. His brothers were still with him, just a little different.

The young, red clad turtle smiled and nestled himself into his big brother's arms, sighing contently before covering his mouth because of a cough.

* * *

Ok, I've noticed if you go to a story about one of the turtles being turned into a tot again, it's always Leo. I demand justice! So that's why Raph, Don and Mikey are the turtle tots in this story. ^_^

Anyways, review please? I need to start planning Leo's revenge on Stockman and how to word his explanation on how he did this to the three youngest turtles.

Bye!

~Moonsetta


	3. Ch 2 A Little Helper

Ok, I updated "MY Brother" so I'm going to work on this story for awhile. I must admit, this a whole new thing for me. I plan to keep each chapter short, so there's a lot of chapters and I can update it almost daily. Besides with all the chaos going on in "MY Brother" I need a break. -_-' A story that isn't so overwhelming.

I don't own TMNT. Honestly, if I did I'd be hiring my friends to draw the comics and make the episodes. Actually, I'd make two different series. I think the rights belong to Nickelodeon now, so the new show is likely to be like the light hearted 1987 series. I'd make one like that and also one like the first five seasons of the 2k3 series. (FF and Btts were terrible. Too lightherted for me, since I grew up mostly with the dark 2k3 series and the movies.) Not that I don't like the 1987 series I watch multiple episodes everyday! ^_^

Anyways here's chapter 3:

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Leo hummed softly while Donatello snuggled into his plastron, small, quiet breaths escaping his mouth, his yellow plastron rising and falling in a steady pattern. The eldest stood up from where he had been sitting atthe kitchen table and walked into the main room of the lair where Mikey was sitting on the couch, playing his game guy. Raphael was sitting in the armchair, reading a book.

"Come on little brothers, time for bed," Leo said sternly.

"But I'm not tired!" Mikey pouted.

This became a stare down until Leo turned on 'the look'.

Mikey whimpered and then shuffled towards Leo, "Ok."

That look went right through them and felt like a stab in the gut. It could convince them to do anything. But the young orange masked turtle knew one power he had. He looked up at his oldest brother, his eyes growing wide as he reached up towards him. Leo sighed, that look of Michelangelo's always weakened him in some way. He momentarily wondered how many times their farther had given in to the same look. He shifted the still slumbering Donatello to his left arm while he scooped up Michelangelo with his right.

"Come on Raphael, you too," Leo ordered sternly, but calmly.

"Just let me finish this page and I'll be right up," the red clad turtle tot said.

Leo was skeptical, but shrugged it off, deciding he'd come back down for his immediate younger brother. The eldest jumped to the second floor of their home and ducked in the largest room on the right. Three beds were each against a single wall. He slipped Donatello into the nearest one, covering him with a purple blanket before crossing the room and slipping Michelangelo into the orange draped bed. He turned to leave but stopped at the feel of a tiny hand on his arm.

"Aniki?"

This made Leo turn back to his baby brother and sigh for the upcoming morning. He thought he didn't have time before just being the leader of the team, but now he really had no if not negative time. Fate owed him something now, he was sure of it. Between his normal leadership duties, his determination to carry on the team's vigilance and protection of the city, caring for his little brothers, teaching them the lessons they learned years ago, he barely had any time for himself. He did manage to set aside about two hours every night for practice. Good thing he only needed about five hours of sleep.

"Hai? Dai-kun?"

Mikey giggled, "Are we learning more Japanese tomorrow?"

"Hai," Leo said shortly with an amused smile.

Surprisingly, it was the youngest turtle that had been hooked by the study of foreign languages. He was determined to learn them all!

Leo shook his head and tucked the orange blanket around his baby brother, "Go to sleep Michelangelo."

The orange clad turtle responded by yawning and snuggling down into his pillow. The eldest smiled in exasperation and turned to the doorway, he had to get Raphael to go to bed. Then, to his shock, he found the red masked turtle in the doorway, walking inside the room.

"Hi big brother, goodnight," the young tot said, climbing into his bed with a proud smile.

He looked over at Leo with the same proud smile, "I put the book up bro."

Still a little surprised by the red masked turtle's actions Leo simply said goodnight and exited the room before leaning against the yellow brick wall. He glanced down at the area they named their living room. Normally, there was a large mess from where his younger brothers had played, but there was only a neat stack of toys on the table. Ok, Leo knew that the living room had been messy when he had taken Mikey and Donny upstairs. He looked over at the bookshelf that was against the wall and found one book slightly askew. He recognized it as the one Raph had been reading.

Then, a small, affectionate smile spread across his face, "Raphael," he whispered.

With no living room to clean up, he went into the kitchen and began sweeping and running water to wash the dishes. After that he went to the computer and ran a security check on the surrounding sewer tunnels. Some rats, some mice, insects, some stray cats and the constant piles of damp debris. Everything seemed to be normal, so he went into the dojo for his nightly practice. He was grateful for the extra amount of time he had since he needed to be at his best for tomorrow night. He would be taking his brothers to April's. The turtles' human friend had promised to watch them, also the scientist in her was currently trying to figure out what Stockman had done to them. Finishing up for the night Leo blew out all the candles he had lit to practice by.

* * *

Ok writer's block, pardon me while I go bang it out of my head. Chapter four will be posted in a few hours if I don't have to go anywhere in that amount of time.

~Moonsetta


	4. Ch 3 An Old Friend Unknown

I don't own TMNT.

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Ok, leaving his little brothers at April's while he searched for Stockman was convenient, but, Leo had to admit, not really thought through. He taken the turtle tots to April's. The typical reaction occurred, April gushing over the little tots and said being scared out of their shells.

"Sorry, it didn't really work out April, but they can't remember anything. Not Master Splinter, not Leatherhead, not Casey, none of our past and not you either," Leo said where he was sitting with the red headed woman in her kitchen.

"Well, how did they remember you?" April asked curiously, taking a sip of her caramel and vanilla tea.

Leo brought his cup of green tea away from his mouth and answered, "I'm not sure, they know I'm their brother but that seems to be it. The bonds we held throughout life as brothers are still there, just the memories are gone."

April frowned and reached across the table to lay her hand on Leo's, "I called Leatherhead the other day and he said you were looking awfully run down lately, and I must say, I agree. You've been through a lot. How did this happen anyways? Leatherhead won't tell me a word."

Leo sighed, "I'm not really sure how it happened, that's why I'm trying to track down Stockman, he's the only one that can fix this."

The blue masked turtle sighed at the sound of a thud from the living room.

"I apologize in advance if anything gets broken," Leo said, standing up and bowing his head at April.

The blue clad turtle walked into the living room, finding his two youngest brothers trying to swat at each other and Raphael keeping them apart.

"Stop fighting you two," the young, red masked turtle tot said, "Do you want Aniki to be upset?"

"He stole my fish!" Mikey yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Donatello.

"It's a submarine," Donatello corrected with the air of a pride filled child.

"Fine give me back my sub-mean!"

"See! You can't even say it, stupid!"

Leo sighed at the irony. When growing up he and Raph fought the most, which wasn't very much to begin with, but still Mikey and Donny constantly fighting. What changed all this? Leo walked into the room, his shadow looming over his younger brothers. They all jumped back at the sight of him.

"So what's going on here?" Leo asked calmly, too calmly to the frightened turtle tots.

They all gulped, "Nothing," they all said in unison.

"What's with the broken submarine?" Leo asked, picking up the piece of painted and dented plastic.

"It's mine!" Mikey shouted.

"No it's mine!" Donny yelled.

Leo sighed, "What did I tell you three yesterday when you were fighting over that fire engine?"

"To not pour glue in the toilet?" Don said.

Leo frowned, "Well yes."

"To not stick our heads in those broken pipes near the lair?" Mikey suggested.

"Well ok I did say that too," Leo admitted.

"That we're brothers so it all belongs to all of us?" Raph said with a shy smile.

Leo smiled affectionately down at his younger brother before bending down and scooping him up into his arms, "Very good Raphael, you learning a lot."

"Dōmo arigatō, Aniki," Raph responded, smiling when his older brother and younger brothers just stared at him in shock.

Shaking off the surprise Leo smiled proudly at Raph before bending down and allowing the others to crawl into his arms as well, "Come on little ones, we better get home."

"Leo!" April called as she came out of the kitchen.

The young turtles jumped and tried to press themselves closer to Leo, their eyes showing their fear as April walked into the room. Leo sighed, why couldn't they remember April, although, he supposed it shouldn't be all that surprising since they couldn't remember their own father.

"Yes April?" Leo said, holding his little brothers closer to give them a sense of security.

"I wanted to give you these," she said, holding out a bag of groceries, "I know you probably can't get away from the lair to go shopping a lot."

"Thanks April," Leo said, managing to shift all three of his brothers onto one arm to grab the cloth bag, "I don't know where we'd be without you."

"Uh Leo, can I-" April said, trailing off at the end of her request.

Leo thought for a moment, then nodded his consent. The three younger turtles were still looking at April with fear. Their mutant crocodile friend they had accepted because he was like them, but this creature wasn't. April smiled softly and reached out with her hand towards Donatello. The purple clad turtle snuggled deeper into Leo's arms.

"Come on little ones," April whispered softly, "I won't hurt you."

When April moved her hand closer to Don the purple clad turtle whimpered so April stopped. She frowned and sighed, ready to give up.

"No," Leo protested quickly and quietly, "Just be patient. I'm sure he'll come around."

April looked skeptical but nevertheless, she reached out and stopped when Donatello whimpered again.

"Patience," Leo reminded her.

So, she waited until Donny turned his head and looked at her, curiosity and fear mixed inside his eyes. She moved her hand closer and she got within an inch of touching the young tot when he flinched and closed his eyes.

"Donatello," Leo said softly while noticing Raphael and Michelangelo staring at April, still frozen in fear, "Just reach out and touch her hand, she won't have to get any closer to you."

Hesitantly and taking a good two minutes to make the decision, Donny extracted his small, olive green hand from where he had tucked it against his plastron and reaching out, his hand shaking. Finally though, swallowing his fear, he reached up and felt his hand touch April's. Then he quickly extracted his hand and snuggled closer to his older brother again. When Leo glanced up at April again, he noticed that she had a small smile on her.

"They'll come around in time," Leo said, "So, we better be going."

"Sorry I couldn't be of much help tracking down Baxter Stockman," April said apologetically.

"That's ok," Leo said, walking to the window, stepping to the side so April could open it, "Maybe I'll have better luck with Casey."

With that, the four turtles disappeared into the night as Leo leapt from the open window and on to the next rooftop.

* * *

Poor April. T_T

Oh well that was chapter 4

Reviews please?

~Moonsetta


	5. Ch 4 Discovery

I don't own TMNT.

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Leo sighed as he tucked a small, purple blanket around Donatello before turning and walking out of the spare bedroom/storage room, flipping off the light on his way. A sneeze came from the room and he shook his head. Curiosity killed the cat and in this case, curiosity gave turtle tots colds. Jumping down into the main room of the lair his mind went over what had happened.

He had allowed his younger brother Donatello to go out for scavenging, but he only had said he would allow it of he took Raphael with him, since Michelangelo was sick. Unfortunately, while busy helping Mikey after he nearly collapsed after getting out of bed, the purple clad turtle had snuck off. He had gotten some supplies but got curious about the darker tunnels. He had no flashlight but curiosity drove him on. It is was a fact that they could NOT see in the dark. Not seeing where he was walking he had fallen down a boarded up excess tunnel which was overfilled from the recent heavy rains that had hit NYC.

Thankfully, Raph had spotted him leaving and went after him. He had brought a flashlight with him. When Leo later asked him what made him think to take the flashlight Raph said that Don had been wanting to go into the further, darker tunnels for about a week, he told him and Mikey all the time. The red clad turtle had searched and found him at the bottom of the access pipe that had drained out enough of the rainwater for them to climb back up. Once up though, Raph ending up having to carry his younger brother home.

"How's Donny?" a voice asked below.

The eldest turtle glanced down and saw Raphael and Michelangelo below him. They were both wearing worried looks coupled with wide eyes.

"Donatello's going to be fine, he's just got a little cold," Leo said with a reassuring smile at his younger brothers, "Now, we've all had a busy day, why don't you two go watch a little TV while I fix some dinner?"

(Truthfully, I don't believe Leo is a horrible cook who burns water. I've heard of Mikey burning food but that's it.)

Leo sighed and set the last dish on the table before walking over and cutting off the oven and sliding out a tray of cookies. No doubt Mikey and Raph would-

"COOKIES!" two voices screamed as two green forms sped into the room, running into Leo and staring up with wonder filled eyes at the assortment on the tray, sugar, chocolate chip, M&M, raison, peanut butter, cinnamon, white chocolate chip and dark chocolate.

"Ah ah," Leo said, "You get these after you finish your dinner."

"Aww," they whined.

"Get to your seats," Leo ordered, "The sooner you finish, the sooner you get the cookies."

They turned to the table and pouted until, "POPCORN CHICKEN!" Mikey yelled, rushing to his seat and climbing up on the books stacked there so he could reach the table.

Raph followed, climbing up in his seat but not so enthusiastically as his younger brother. Leo set the cookies in the microwave and joined them at the table.

"What's this green stuff?" Mikey asked, poking at a pile of long thin things.

"They're green beans, try them," Leo said, eating his own meal which consisted of steamed rice with sweet and sour sauce topping it and small pieces of sushi.

"Yuck!" Mikey said, "I don't like them! Can I have some cookies now?"

"Not until you finish your plate," Leo said and looked over at Raph, the tiny red masked tot was looking at the green beans with distaste but he took his fork and stabbed some, bringing them up to his mouth. It was obvious he didn't like them but he chewed and swallowed them nevertheless. He REALLY wanted those cookies. In ten minutes, Raph's plate was clean.

"Very good Raphael," Leo said, getting up, scooping up the empty plate from in front of Raph and his own empty bowl and dumping them into the sink.

"Since you finished first you get two cookies," Leo said, taking them out of the microwave, thankfully still warm.

"Yes!" Raph said with a happy smile as Leo brought the tray over.

There were three of each kind, meaning the bunch would last them for some time, and assuring that there was enough for everyone. Leo predicated that Raph would take his favorites, which he had recently just discovered were peanut butter and cinnamon, but to his surprise, Raph took a cinnamon and a chocolate chip. Wondering but accepting, Leo put the plate back in the microwave for in the morning.

"What about Donny?" Raph asked as Michelangelo pouted and pushed the vegetables around on his plate, too angry to take another bite.

"He'll be sleeping for the rest of the night," Leo explained, "Michelangelo, you've got ten minutes before bedtime, you better finish if you want dessert."

Mikey glared up at him but returned his gaze to his plate then, after a few seconds he looked over and glared at Raph. The red banded turtle tot was smiling widely while eating the first cookie, cinnamon, the chocolate chip one was still in his other hand, yet to be eaten. Mikey huffed, chocolate chip was his favorite, not Raph's. No doubt his brother took that one just to mock him.

"All right it's 9:00, time for bed," Leo said, walking over to run the water to wash the dishes. He then turned to find Mikey hadn't finished his plate and Raph had already eaten the cookies.

"To bed, both of you," Leo said with a stern glance.

The two tots slid off their chairs and made their way to their bedroom. They winced when they heard a heavy cough from the furthest room. Mikey shook off his thoughts and continued to glare at Raph until they entered their bedroom.

"It's not fair, how come you got two cookies?" Mikey said, crossing his tiny arms over his plastron.

Raph narrowed his eyes, "Well I finished dinner, you didn't."

"I wasn't gonna eat that green stuff," Mikey said while sticking his tongue out in mock disgust, "You ate it though, you'll probably turn into some slime covered monster and Leo will have to lock you away in the closet forever."

"Aniki wouldn't," Raph protested, but a small spark of fear lit up under his mask.

"Serves you right," Mikey said with a strange air of mocking pride around him.

Raph huffed and stomped off to bed, Mikey stomped off towards his own bed in the opposite direction, both mentally yelling at the other.

* * *

In the kitchen Leo turned and went to grab Mikey's plate and while scraping what he hadn't eaten into the garbage can, the eldest just shook his head before placing the plate and fork into the sink with the other dishes. He then turned back to the table and scooped up the napkin that had been next to Mikey's plate, which he hadn't bothered to use, then the blue clad turtle reached over to get Raph's but found it wasn't there.

"Hmm," Leo thought, "Maybe I forgot to give him one."

With a shrug, he went back to his chore.

* * *

After being angry for a good 15 minutes Raph rolled over in his bed, wide awake, and glanced across the room to see that his youngest brother was sleeping silently. He frowned, he hadn't meant to yell and he'd gotten the chocolate chip cookie for a reason. Mikey wasn't one to always eat vegetables, so…

Raph stole his way across the room and stopped by Mikey's bedside. He looked at the box that the youngest used as a bedside table and placed something down on it before slipping out of the room. He dropped down into the main room, the lights had been dimmed but he heard sounds coming from a different room. The red clad turtle tot looked across the room to see the door to the forbidden room cracked open. The young tots had gotten up late and early some days to find their older brother was inside the room but when they asked him about it he simply said that the room was forbidden to them for the time being.

More curious than ever, Raph stole across the floor of the main room until he reached the door and peaked inside. What he saw made his mouth drop open. There his older brother, moving with his swords, just doing movements over and over again, but he was moving so perfectly and powerfully, like he had done the movements for years, but what was this-?

Gulping, the red clad turtle tot slipped open the door and took a hesitant step inside before whispering, "Big brother?"

Leo heard the whispered voice and immediately turned to face his younger brother. Swords still drawn he probably looked ready to fight so Raph stepped back with either wonder or fear. Leo heaved a sigh and sheathed his katanas before bending down and holding out a hand to Raphael.

"Come here," Leo said calmly.

Raph walked up to Leo letting his older brother rub his head with an affectionate but somewhat sad smile.

"What were you doing?" Raph asked.

Leo sighed again, "I'd hoped that I could postpone this longer Raphael."

"What?" Raph asked, confused.

"I was practicing katas, practicing my ninjitsu," Leo explained.

"What's ninjitsu?" Raph asked.

Leo frowned deeply, everything, all those memories were gone, they couldn't remember their friends, ninjitsu, their father…nothing.

"It's the art of the ninja," the blue clad older turtle said, trying to explain, "We-um I use it for self defense."

"You mean like those ninja we see on TV?" Raph asked, his young, innocence filled eyes glowing with excitement.

"Kind of," Leo said with a sideways smile.

"Wow," Raph said with amazement.

Leo frowned at the excitement and affection dancing in Raph's eyes. He couldn't ever remember Raphael acting like that before. The blue clad turtle was about to say more when his shell cell started ringing. He pulled it from his belt and answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Leo, I found Stockman, but I need you to come to my place," April said.

"I'll be right there April," Leo said, closing the shell cell and tucking it back into his belt.

"Was it that human again?" Raph asked, his excitement of the whole ninja thing gone for the moment.

"Yes," Leo said, "She's our friend Raphael, she isn't going to hurt, you three are going to have to stay with her while I go somewhere."

"Why can't we go with you," Raph asked as he walked after Leo as they walked into the main room.

"I'm sorry," Leo said, "It's too dangerous. Would you go wake up Michelangelo while I get Donatello?"

"But Aniki, she's a human," Raph protested.

"April is out friend," Leo insisted.

"She's different," Raph said.

"We're all different Raphael, not just her, we may not be human, but we aren't exactly crocodiles like Leatherhead either."

Raph's shoulders sagged and he trudged off to wake up his younger brother. When he reached the room though, he was tackled by Mikey and just barely managed to stay on his feet. When he could focus again he found that his younger brother was trembling and whispering to him.

"I'm sorry Raphie, thank you," the orange clad turtle muttered as he hugged his older brother tightly. Raph returned the hug and looked over at Mikey's bed.

On the bedside table was a napkin…

…covered with chocolate chip cookie crumbs.

* * *

Well, that's chapter 5. YAY!

Review please! Now if anyone's wondering about the whole fear of humans thing, there will be an explanation in the next chapter and we'll finally figure out what Stockman did to them. So I'll get to writing chapter 6. Yay! Time to torture Raph, Donny and Mikey for a change! Until then keep loving TMNT!

~Moonsetta


	6. Ch 5 Terror

Hey everyone, sorry, but I'm posting this from the local library, I'm still in the process of moving so I can't get a network connection at my new house. Thanks everyone for reading! And all my spectacular reviewers. You guys rule!

Ok, I don't own TMNT.

* * *

"Guys I have to go," Leo said, glaring down at the wide eyed turtle tots below him.

Raph, was staring up with his wide blue eyes burning into his, the blue orbs contrasting the tot's fire red mask. Mikey was a different story though, he had grabbed onto Leo's leg and wouldn't let go. Donatello was still asleep in April's bedroom, where the eldest turtle had deposited the still ill turtle tot.

"Don't leave us here Aniki!" Mikey protested, clinging to Leo's leg even tighter.

Leo sighed and looked across the room where his red haired human friend was sitting with a sad look on her face. Leo sighed and bent down to pry Michelangelo off his leg. This task was rather difficult but he succeeded and scooped his red and orange masked little brothers into his arms. He walked over to April and the tots only burrowed deeper into Leo's hold when she turned her attention to them. The eldest sighed again.

"I'm sorry April," the blue clad turtle said, "I thought that as children that they would be curious and more open minded."

April smiled and spoke, "True, _human _children are like that, but they're turtles too, animals are naturally weary of humans and other animals they can't relate to."

"I suppose that makes sense," Leo said with a nonchalant shrug, "But I need someone to watch them while I check out that last place Stockman was seen. I hope he's not working with Bishop again, or the Foot. Karai's already out to take off my head at any opportunity."

"He could be working alone…" April said.

"True," Leo said and then turned to the door that lead to April's bedroom, "Listen Raph, Mikey? I need you guys to watch after Donatello until I get back."

"But," Raph protested, staring at April.

"She won't bother you," Leo assured them before entering the room and spotting the twisting, small form on the bed.

Leonardo sighed and walked over to the bed, bending down and setting Raph and Mikey down beside him before he reached out and rested his hand on Donatello's forehead. The purple clad turtle mumbled in his sleep and shook his head slightly before falling silent again.

"Is Donny gonna be ok?" Mikey asked.

Leo smiled and scooped up his orange and red masked younger brothers again, setting them on the edge of the bed.

"Now, I have to go somewhere for a awhile. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Aniki," Mikey whined, "Why can't we go with you?"

"It's too dangerous," Leo said, as he had many times before.

"But we'll be good," Raph joined in with the begging.

"I wouldn't put you three in danger."

"But why can't we stay with Leatherhead?" Raph asked.

"He's away from his home," Leo answered, his eyes traveling to the window, "This is the only place I trust is safe for you. So stay safe. You. Must. Stay. Here. Understand?"

"But-"

Leo narrowed his eyes and the younger turtles lowered their heads, "Yes, Aniki."

"Good," Leo said with a sharp nod then he let himself focus on the look on his little brothers' faces.

He sighed, "Raphael?"

The red clad turtle tot slowly raised his head and stared back at his older brother, his blue eyes were wider than ever before. The eldest felt a part of his heart break but he fought the feeling off and replaced his Fearless Leader mask, "Listen Raphael, I need you to watch after Donny and Mikey ok? I'm counting on you."

Leo smiled softly as Raph's blue eyes widened and his small mouth fell open before he smiled a prideful grin and clench his fists in determination, "You can count on me Aniki!"

Leo laughed and bent down to nuzzle each tot's head affectionately before he turned, opened up the window, slipped outside, turned back to close the window and disappeared into the distance of the night sky.

"So what do we do now?" Mikey asked, turning his attention to his older, red masked brother.

Raph opened his mouth to speak but shut it again at the sound of whimpers coming from his purple masked brother, who began tossing in his sleep.

"Donny?" the two tots asked as their small hands fell onto a rapidly rising and falling plastron

_

* * *

_

The young Donatello found himself looking down at…something. Desks stood around the perimeter of the white room that clouded his vision. The place felt strangely familiar to him but he couldn't decide why. Just then a whirling sound made him turn to one of the white walls that was free of desks and watched in complete awe as the wall rose up on its own. But, what shocked him more were the two figures behind what appeared to be some kind of wall of steel bars. Curious, the young tot walked up to this wall of iron and touched one of the steel bars.

_Whoosh!_

_Donatello jumped and turned, his eyes wide with fear as another door opened. Well, this one seemed to split into two, creating a hole in the wall. His jaw then fell when someone walked inside. The thing, had a large robotic body and a simple head with dark skin and glasses resting on the edge of a slightly bent nose._

_The man-or robot had a form, that looked like the others behind the iron barred wall, tucked under his arm. He crossed the room and dropped the green form in front of the cell, taking no notice of the young turtle tot, as if he wasn't really there. The robot man turned and flipped a switch by the cell and then pressed a yellow button that was beneath the switch. He laughed as a purple shaded gas started to fill the room. _

_The creatures behind the wall began gasping and choking but the young tot felt that the air was no different to him. It still had the same taste and texture, although his surroundings smelled different than his home. A bit of the strange gas cleared long enough for Donatello to watch as the robot man scooped up the turtle he previously had. When the light shone at the correct angle, the purple masked tot fell backwards and onto his shell in horror._

"_Raph!"_

* * *

"Donny wake up!"

Donatello shot strait up into a sitting position and his eyes ran around wildly until they fell onto his red masked older brother. He immediately, without warning, jumped towards his older brother, knocking him back onto the bed.

"Donny?" Raph whispered as he found his immediate younger brother curled up against him, sobbing out an inner demon.

"Donny?" a light voice asked and the purple clad tot found enough focus to turn his head and stare at his younger brother before he found himself in a two way hug. His shoulders shook violently before he buried his face in Raph's neck and told his dream through his sobs.

When the tale had ended Raph and Mikey looked to one another, "I think we should get Aniki," Raph said, continuing to hold his little brother close to him.

Mikey nodded but frowned, "But he said he wouldn't be back for awhile."

Raph let his gaze roam across the room until it fell on the door. He gulped, but voiced his thoughts, "Maybe that human could help find Aniki."

"But, Raph, she's a human, Aniki always told us to-"

"But what about Donny?"

Mikey looked down at where his still ill older brother was curled up and trembling in Raph's arms, also continuing to murmur the horrors of his nightmare.

"I don't want to go," Mikey protested, feeling fear and a small bile of shame crawl up his throat.

Raph pulled Donny from him and turned him to Mikey where the two brothers embraced and the older held on much too tightly, his nightmare was still fresh.

"Raphie?" Mikey asked as he watched his older brother walk towards the door. The young, red masked turtle had to jump up to turn the doorknob enough to open it but as the air from the rest of the apartment flew in Raph told himself to be brave like his older brother and just focus on helping his little brother. He took a deep breath, stood stoutly and walked determinedly out the door, although inside, he was trembling like crazy.

* * *

April sighed as she watched the wood of her table rot away. She could not tell that the furthest right side of the table would be the first to fall off. There wasn't much else to do except wait for Leo's return. While thinking of the blue clad ninja she frowned. She hoped he was alright and that nothing had happened to him. Bad luck did always seem to happen to Leo the most. April shivered as her memories lapsed back to her old apartment and antique store.

She would never forget that night.

Someone screamed, glass shattered, wind swept back the crimson curtains into whips as another bright crimson joined their own shades. She hadn't known the turtles that long when it happened but she saw it all, all the fears reflected in the family's eyes as their blue masked brother lay dieing.

"Leo," she thought, staring out the window in her kitchen as if it would suddenly make him return and everything would be ok again.

She had talked with his father and brothers after they had managed to wake him from his coma out at the farmhouse that belonged to April's boyfriend, the crazy headed vigilante, Casey Jones. April had believed that everything would be fine after Leo woke up but he still had to heal from his fatal injuries. Though she had not been as close as she was now with the mutant family she was shocked to see how they were acting.

_

* * *

_

April looked around, she was looking for Splinter to ask if he wanted some tea, since she had volunteered to boil a pot of tea for Leo. Unknowingly, she had grinded up a few pain pills and instilled them into the drink. The blue clad turtle was stubborn when it came to medicine. Finally, after ten minutes of searching, she found the elderly rat behind the barn, beating the crap out of a bale of hay.

"_Uh Master Splinter?" April said nervously, glancing at a nearby pile of woodchips that she was certain was a tree when they arrived at the farm house._

"_Yes Ms. O'Neil?" the elderly rat said, turning his blazing part angry, part caring eyes on her._

"_It's awfully dark, won't you come in and have a cup of tea?"_

_The rat smiled sadly and shook his head shortly, "Forgive me Ms. O'Neil. Thank you for your generous hospitality but I must continue my training."_

_With that, Splinter turned towards a tree and rushed at , his eyes narrowed. April shook as she heard the tree crackle and grumble before it crashed to the earth. She gulped and quickly made her way to the house. She had almost reached the door when she found Michelangelo sitting on the steps, staring at the ground._

"_Mikey, what's wrong?" April asked, walking over to sit down next to him, "You look like you're watching the grass grown."_

_Mikey pointed to a short blade to his right, "That one's the fastest."_

_Blinking in confusion, April tried to recognize this kind of behavior from her friends. Splinter was not normally so angry, or Mikey so crestfallen and serious._

"_How about some dinner?" April suggested, knowing the quickest way to any man was his stomach._

"_Maybe later," Mikey mumbled, continuing to watch the lawn in all its slow growing glory._

_Concerned and greatly confused, the red head reached and set her hand on Mikey's shoulder, "He's going to be ok Mikey."_

"_I know, it just feels weird without him around all the time," Mikey admitted. _

_Curious about this, April decided to talk with Splinter when he, Mikey and Raph decided to come in for the night. She sighed, got to her feet and went back inside the farmhouse, quickly ascending the steps and walking to the furthest room of the attic. Once there, she opened the window and leaned out of it, turning her head to the left where she saw Raphael sitting on the edge of the rooftop._

"_Everyone ok?" Raph asked, and for a moment April sensed fear in his voice._

"_Yeah," she said softly, "Leo's sleeping, Master Splinter's training, Mikey's watching the grass grow and Don's been in the basement most of the day trying to fix the water heater._

"_Hmm," replied Raph._

"_It'll be nice to have a hot shower soon."_

_Raph growled, "It'll be a whole lot nicer when I get my hands wrapped around the throat of the first Foot ninja I can grab."_

_April's eyes widen before they melted into a familiar not quite an understanding a familiar acceptance and enlightenment._

"_Leo's going to be ok," she said softly._

_Raph scoffed, "Duh! He's Leo! Of course he's gonna be ok."_

"_Would you please come in and have some dinner?" April asked softly._

_Raph sighed while closing his eyes, then he turned and looked at April before he said a simple, "Ok."_

_As the red masked turtle climbed through the window back into the house he asked, "What about the others?"_

"_I couldn't get them to come to the table."_

_Raph's eyes fell in a kind of determined, easy going look. He smiled and began whistling as he walked out the front door. Somehow, everyone sat down at the table to eat dinner that night. Raph had managed to pull Don from his work, Splinter from his training, Mikey from his new lawn watching hobby and even helped Leo walk to the table. Still, Splinter's eyes held that same anger, Leo's held the tiredness and relief of rest, Raph's held a small strip of pride but also held onto his anger slightly, but overall, stored it all away for later. Donny wouldn't eat and Mikey began picking at the chicken on his plate, choosing instead to swallow half the bowl of the fried, mixed vegetables. _

* * *

Remembering was the only thing April could really focus on at this moment. She glanced at the clock on her microwave. Leo had brought the turtle tots over at 6:30, now the clock read 7:15. The eldest turtle had deposited the younger turtles in her bedroom about 15 minutes ago, the beginning half an hour, Leo had to use to convince the little ones stay with her. It was difficult for her not to look in on them. Her simple human nature had her gushing over the young toddlers, but the favor had sided with nature.

A sound behind her made April turn and to her shock, she found the red masked turtle standing in the doorway, his wide blue eyes very wide and his body slightly trembling.

"Yes, Raphael?" she asked calmly.

Raph looked down and gritted his teeth, "When is Aniki coming back?"

"I'm not sure. What's wrong?"

"Donny had a bad dream," came the whispered reply.

"Do want me to call Leo?" April asked.

Raph nodded, but his eyes were still wide with fear, since they were still young turtles, animal nature of fear began to overcome simple childlike curiosity. April got up and walked over to her purse that was sitting on the counter, she quickly found her shell cell and dialed out the familiar number.

It rang twice before the line clicked open, "Is everything ok April?" came the instant reply.

"I'm not sure," April admitted, looking over at the wide eyed, red masked turtle tot, "But Raphael came in and said for me to call you to come back. Donny's had some kind of nightmare."

"April I-" a sigh sounded next, "Ok, I'm on my way back."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just a dead end on tracking Stockman. I'll be back in about ten minutes."

"Ok, thanks Leo."

"Bye."

"Goodbye, see you in a bit."

April hung up the shell cell and looked over at Raph, "Leo will be back soon."

Raph nodded before backing up and quickly making his way back to his younger brothers, where he was handed Donny again, who was still trembling from his nightmare.

"Is Aniki coming back?"

Raph nodded and pulled his purple clad brother closer, "She said he would be back soon."

Mikey nodded. He looked around the room uneasily until a creaking outside made him turn to the window. His eyes grew wide, but-he didn't have enough time to scream.

* * *

Leo released an annoyed sigh as he dropped down onto April's rooftop.

"A dead end," he though angrily, "All these days, one lead and nada, nothing,:

He took a deep breath and slipped in the living room window.

"Leo, you're back!" April said, coming up from downstairs, having to go down to make sure all the doors were locked for the evening in her shop.

"Is Donny ok?"

"I'm not sure," April admitted, looking towards her bedroom door.

Leo walked towards the door, April following behind him, but remembering to keep a certain distance. The blue clad turtle opened the door and froze in the doorway.

"Leo? What's wrong?" April asked, since she couldn't see past him.

She received no answer. She blinked and then Leo was inside, pinning a shadow against the wall. She rushed in and flipped the light switch, revealing the unlocked and open window. When she glanced up at the shadow, she found a Foot soldier was the one being pinned against the wall with a sword against his throat.

"WHERE ARE THEY!" Leo yelled, slashing his katana against the man's neck, just enough to rip the black cloth and expose the throat, before resting the silver blade of his sword against the throat.

* * *

Oh, now how dare I do that? ^_^

Reviews please!

~Moonsetta


	7. Ch 6 Relief

Hey everyone! It's an update!

Well, let's see what happened to the younger turtles.

I don't own TMNT. But I am the proud owner of a giant Michelangelo floor puzzle, 5 awesome action figures and three packs of TMNT trading cards.

* * *

April rushed to the window and looked across at the next building to see a group of Foot soldiers, but when they spotted her, they turned and fled. She closed and locked the window again before turning back to find the Foot ninja slumped against the wall, his neck bent at the wrong angle. She glanced up at Leo and took a step back from the furious look on his face, her own green eyes wide with fear. His gaze met her eyes for a brief moment before he growled while April tried to avoid looking directly at him by scanning the room.

What would they do?

Did the Foot take the others?

Could they get them back?

What would Leo do?

Just then, they heard the sound of something miniscule being shoved against the carpet. They turned their eyes to the sound and saw random pieces of paper being shoved out from under the closet door. The blue masked turtle rushed to it and threw the door open. He found his little brothers bound with rope inside, their mouths muzzled with strands of cloth. Donny and Mikey were against the far wall while Raph was in front of the door and although his hands were bound he had them on top of an empty manila folder, looking like he was about to push it out from under the door.

Before the young tots' eyes could adjust to sudden bright light of the bedroom they found their hands were suddenly unbound and the cloths that had been tied around their mouths to muzzle them had been cut away. Of course, as soon as they could see clearly again they were swept up into Leo's arms as their older brother breathed a deep sigh of relief as he muttered words while holding them tightly.

"Thank goodness."

"I thought they had."

"Oh, my little brothers."

In no time at all Leo found himself with two sobbing little brothers and a third slightly sniffling. He got to his feet, where before he had bent down to pick the tots up, and turned back to April.

"I have to get my brothers home." he said, amazingly, managing to talk over all the crying from the two youngest, "I don't feel that you'd be safe if I left though. With the Foot crawling around you home you shouldn't stay here by yourself."

April looked at the crying turtles and nodded, "I'll find a hotel to stay in tonight, I promise."

"Ok, but call me as soon as you get there."

"I will," April promised.

Leo nodded and walked back out into the living room to slip through the window he had entered through.

* * *

Half an hour later, they were back home, safe. At least, they were for the moment. April had called and had called Casey as well. Leo himself had called Leatherhead to let him know that the one lead they had had was now a dead end.

"What location did you inspect?" asked Leatherhead.

"It was a warehouse on pier 86," Leo answered, gently running a comforting hand across Donatello's shell where the young tot was curled up in his lap.

"I'll run a few scans and examine the history of the area."

Leo looked sideways where Mikey had decided to clamp onto his right arm and not let go for anything. Good thing he was ambidextrous and could use his left hand as easily as his right. Both Michelangelo and Donatello were soundly asleep. Strangely, Raph had went strait to bed.

The blue clad turtle took a deep breath, "Thanks Leatherhead, just don't risk going topside for awhile. I have to be more cautious than ever of the Foot's whereabouts, now that they know about my brothers. The last thing I want is Shredder getting his claws on them, especially when they're like this."

Leo paused for a moment then hesitantly asked, "Have you found anything about-?"

"I'm sorry my friend, but I have found nothing to aid in your brothers' regeneration, there are many factors to consider."

"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry for bothering you," Leo said dejectedly.

"It is no trouble Leonardo, I am happy to help you and your family in any way can."

Leo gulped, "Thank you."

"No thanks are necessary, goodbye my friend, I will begin tracking Baxter Stockman immediately."

"Good luck, thanks again, bye."

Leo hung up his shell cell, tucked it into his belt and looked down at the slumbering turtles. Just then, a set of light footsteps coming down the stairs from the second floor made him glance up. His eyes set on a questioning emotion as he watched Raphael come closer before the tot glanced up at him, hesitantly taking his eyes that had been glued to the floor away from the yellow stones that had held his attention for most of his walk. At the closing of his advance though, he stopped and just kept staring.

"Is something wrong Raphael?" Leo asked.

The red masked turtle tot looked down again and then towards the kitchen, "I was just thirsty."

Leo understood.

Problem: Raphael wouldn't be able to reach the cups where they were stored away in the cabinets.

Leo bit back an annoyed sigh. Raph couldn't help it, he was four now. It took a good five minutes of struggling but Leo got Donny to curl up against a large pillow and Mikey to clamp his arms around another pillow. Relieved that they were both still sleeping, Leo stood up and walked over to his younger brother. The red clad turtle was still staring at the floor, twisting his foot nervously against the yellow stones.

"Stop that," the eldest said sharply but silently, "You could cut your foot on one of those."

Raph frowned deeply and just stood still, his arms pressed tightly against his sides shamefully as he continued to stare at the floor, "Gomenasai Aniki."

Leo bent down and looked under Raph's head, he felt his heart break and chip apart at the sight of the exremely reflective blue eyes.

* * *

I promise trouble in the next chapter! You can all hold me to it.

Anyways, isn't it nice that the Foot didn't get them? Too bad they know what happened now.

Yes, I'm hinting at something. ^_^

Well, I'm going to go meditate. Later!

~Moonsetta


	8. Ch 7 Fear

Hi everyone! I decided to take a break from my current collabs and Old and Young. Oh and I want to say, I HAVE NOT forgotten about "The Art of Brotherhood" I just want to finish these other stories first. Oh and in other news, I have a poll up on my profile about my next story I should start. Should it be:

A sequel to "Where's Leo?"

Or

A Super Turtles Story?

Make sure you vote, or if you can't vote on the poll, then you can leave your vote in a review or send it in a message.

Oh would you listen to me talk? I almost sound like some kind of good author. Well, to the story!

I really wish I could claim ownership of the quad team of adolescent bipedal terrapin ninja warriors, but alas, I can not.

* * *

The eldest sat at the brown, worn down, wooden table as he stared across the way at his red masked brother. The young tot was trying to avoid his older brother's gaze by tipping the plastic, green colored cup in his hand back enough that the only thing he would see is the bottom of the cup and so none of the milk would spill.

Finally, the elder blue banded turtle sighed and spoke his curiosity, "What's wrong Raphael?"

Raph lowered the cup but didn't take it away from hiding his face, "I-I'm f-fine."

"Raphael, what you three went through with the Foot today was something a child of your age shouldn't have to. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you."

"Aniki?" Raph said through a gulp as he sat the cup down and stared down at his legs, which he began swinging distractedly.

"Yes?"

"I-"

"AH!"

Leo was in the living room in a second where he found his now awake, orange masked youngest brother shaking and crying. Leo quickly collected the turtle tot into his arms and had to bite back a groan as he noticed Donatello beginning to wake as well. Thankfully, the purple clad turtle blinked only once before snuggling back into the pillow and falling asleep once again.. The eldest breathed a sigh of relief and reentered the kitchen where Raph was sitting a the wooden table.

"Shh," Leo breathed as he gently rocked Mikey in his arms.

Mikey sniffed, wiped away his tears, and looked up at his eldest brother. Though tears once again trailed down his face he reached out and wrapped his arms around Leo's neck. The blue clad turtle sat down and whispered quiet words to his youngest brother. A few minutes later Mikey grew silent and turned his blood shot eyes to stare at the cup across the table. An unusual sound came from his throat and Leo looked across the table as well and then let a smile of understanding cover his face. Leo stood up and walked over to Mikey's chair, sitting the tot down on the books stacked there. Leo turned towards the cabinets, pulled out a small, orange plastic cup and poured the young orange masked turtle tot some milk. The youngest happily took the cup and started drinking rather sloppily, some of the milk dripping down onto his chin. Raph frowned and jumped down from the table before walking back to the living room. Leo glanced at Mikey and then got up to follow his red masked brother out the door.

"Raphael? What's wrong?" Leo asked when he caught up to the red clad tot.

"I-I"

Leo kneeled down and looked his eyes with his brother's.

"I-um…I"

Leo spread his arms with a careful smile, "Come on, you can tell me anything little brother."

Raphael stepped into the embrace before burying his face into Leo's shoulder, "I-I was scared."

Leo smiled, finally he admitted it. Leo stood up with the tot still in his arms, "It's ok Raph, everyone gets scared sometimes."

"You aren't scared of anything," Raphael pointed out.

Leo rolled his eyes, "Hey, this old turtle has plenty of fears."

"Really? What?"

Leo smiled and looked towards the couch where Donatello was still sleeping. The eldest made his way over and sat down beside his purple clad brother, reaching out with one hand to rest on the little one's shell while the other held his red clad brother close.

"I'm scared of heights, failure and loss."

Raphael opened his mouth to say something when Leo's shell cell rang. The blue clad turtle let Raph sit in his lap while he answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Leo, it's April, turn on the news now!"

Leo frowned and held the phone to his ear with his shoulder while he reached for the remote. When the news did come on his mouth fell open.

There was April's antique shop, completely in ruins.

A news reporter came onto the screen, "The police are searching the area for any clue as to who the attempted murderer was. The owner, April O'Neil was thankfully away from the shop, so no one was injured in the bombing."

"Bombing?" Leo asked in a shocked gasp.

"That's right," April said over the phone.

Leo shook his head to clear it, "April, where are you?"

"Down at the police station, Casey's with me."

"I want you two to come to the lair now," Leo said sternly, "I don't want you two on the surface."

"I can take of myself Leo."

"Please April, don't you get it? The bomb was there for a reason. The bomb is the reason they didn't take my brothers. They had planned to kill them with that bomb, I don't want you two up there where you're venerable to more of their attacks."

"Leo I-" April sighed, "Ok, we'll be there in 15 minutes tops."

"Thank you," Leo breathed and hung up. When he glanced down he realized that Donatello was trying to crawl in his lap like Raphael had.

"Who was that Aniki?" Donny asked while rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"It was April, our friend."

The two tots grew stiff and their eyes grew wide but they relaxed when Leo pulled them close. Mikey came out of the kitchen, wearing a full milk moustache and begging to be held as well.

* * *

It was exactly twelve minutes and ten seconds later that the elevator in the lair opened and out stepped April and Casey. Leo had been in the kitchen, fixing dinner when he heard the elevator doors opening and the rushing of tiny feet against the ground.

"Aniki!" the voice of his younger brothers yelled.

Leo turned away from the chicken he was dicing and met the frightened eyes of his little brothers. He bent down and scooped them into his arms as April and Casey walked into the kitchen.

"Yo Leo! What's up?" Casey called out.

Mikey flinched and let out a whimper. Leo sighed and motioned April and Casey over to the table before setting the young tots down.

"Ok, you three go play in your room until I call you for dinner."

They nodded and rushed out of the room, thankful to be away from the humans. The blue clad turtle sighed and turned to the others.

"Wow," Casey said, "April told me what happened, but I didn't expect that."

"Where was the bomb?" Leo asked, determined to get right to the point.

April glanced at the kitchen doorway uneasily, "It was on the top shelf in my closet."

Leo tightened his hands into fists and slammed them down onto the table, "I knew the Foot had some reason for not taking them."

"How are they doing, you know, after that?" April asked.

Leo uncurled his hands and sat down in his own chair, "Donatello's clinging, Mikey's having nightmares and Raphie's trying to be brave by not saying anything."

"Did you just call him Raphie?" Casey asked with a freaked out look on his face.

Leo smiled tauntingly, "Yeah, those three have always had those childish nicknames."

"Ah man," Casey cried, "I could've used that for blackmail."

Nevertheless, this made them all share small smiles with one another. Then, a loud banging came from the front door before it was torn down.

"LEATHERHEAD!"

"ANIKI! HELP!"

* * *

Wow. O_O

That was long. Ok, time for trouble! YAY!

Ok, you'll find out what happened in the next chapter. Don't worry I'll have it posted by next month!

O-O

O_O

!_!

-_-#

Just kidding. Maybe I'll post it tomorrow, if I get three reviews by then. Well, I'm going to go get some ice cream. BYE!

~Moonsetta


	9. Ch 8 Peril

Hey everyone! I'm over my flu and now I'm kind of babysitting.

Anyways here's the update, though I think everyone will be mad at me at the end of it. I'll apologize in advanced.

Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!

Ok, now to the (admittedly short) chapter.

I don't own TMNT.

* * *

The two humans and lone turtle ran into the main room, their hearts thumping loudly in their ears. Leo's breath escaped him when he saw the unconscious form of Leatherhead laying on the floor and a black clothed Foot soldier holding down the young tots while another had Donatello in his hands, trying to stuff him into a large cloth bag.

"No!" Leo yelled and tackled the Foot soldiers, throwing them back outside the door. The blue clad turtle had enough time to scoop his little brothers into his arms before the sound of a heavy footstep made him look up at the large mammoth-like Hun. The Purple Dragon leader was standing in the doorway and a dark sea of black cloaked Foot ninja stood behind him, blocking the tunnels they could've used to get away.

"Hey freaks," Hun said with a devious smile as he cracked his knuckles, "No need to invite us in."

Hun leapt at Leo, who jumped back just in time for Casey to tackle Hun and for April to lure Leatherhead back to consciousness.

"Quick! To the elevator!" Leo yelled, leading the others to the only exit that remained.

"What happened Leatherhead?" Leo asked in a rushed voice as the elevator began to rise.

"I was on my way to check your security system when-"

The elevator shifted and everyone shouted as it dipped forward.

"There's too much weight!" April shouted.

"Should I-" Leatherhead began, knowing that it was more than likely his weight making the elevator stop.

"No," Leo said sternly, looking out between the slightly opened doors at the Foot ninja crowding their home below.

"Aniki, what's going on?" Donny asked, his blue eyes scanning the room below.

"They're the mean people that tied us up," Mikey said with a whimper.

Leo stared at the surrounding ninja and shifted his weight to one foot, finding that the elevator moved when he did. His eyes narrowed in determination as he turned to Leatherhead. The look was one his brothers would have recognized if they had been their old selves but the look they saw sent shivers down their shells as if they could sense that something bad was about to happen.

Leo handed the three turtle tots to Leatherhead before turning to April and Casey, "Take the BattleShell and head for the farmhouse in Northampton."

The eldest turtle turned to the doors and forced them open.

"Leo?" April asked, fear enlacing her voice.

"Leo you can't!" Casey protested.

Leo looked back at his younger brothers, all of their wide eyes shining with worry and fear.

"Aniki?" they asked with whimpers as they reached out to him, "Aniki!"

Leo walked over and nuzzled their foreheads, "You three go with Leatherhead, April and Casey."

"But Aniki!" Raph protested.

Leo forced himself to turn away and he drew his swords, a glint in his eyes.

"ANIKI!" the three tots shouted as their older brother disappeared out the door.

The doors closed just as they saw a black clothed Foot ninja aim their sword for Leo's head.

"NO! ANIKI!"

As the elevator began to rise again the three tots yelled and squirmed in Leatherhead's arms, yelling for their older brother. When the elevator reached the garage, April ran to the BattleShell and opened the back door for Leatherhead to climb in with the young turtles in his arms. When April climbed into the driver seat she looked over at the sound of banging.

"Why won't this thing work!" Casey yelled, hitting the side of the elevator.

"Casey we have to go!" April yelled.

"I ain't leaving him behind!" Casey yelled.

"There's no time! Leo will be fine!" April protested, running over and tugging her crazy boyfriend towards the vehicle.

"We can't leave him!" Casey said, making his own protest against April's, "_They_ wouldn't!"

"We have no choice! Come on!"

A large explosion beneath their feet made Casey fall onto his back.

"We must go now!" Leatherhead said, pushing the two humans towards the BattleShell.

As they drove away, Raph, Donny and Mikey stared out the back window, watching in nothing short of horror with wide eyes as a large fire grew in the distance before an explosion shook the area.

_Boom!_

"ANIKI!"

* * *

What have I done? O_O

Oh well. ^_^

Please review!

~Moonsetta


	10. Ch 9 Remaining

Hey everyone. So overall, I now have a very dependable router in my house to provide me with fast internet. (I've been using dial-up for some time) The recent tragedies in my family have finally leveled out. (These include a discovery of a tumor in my aunt's brain, my mom's own cancer coming out of remission, my mother's friend falling down the stone steps and into our basement and my cousin nearly severing his arm off by accidenly shooting himself with a hunting rifle.)

Yeah, my life's pretty chaotic right now but hey, writing helps. ^_^

Anyways, enough of these sob stories. Let's get to the chapters!

Oh and I thought I would warn everyone, tomorrow, I'll be sending my computer off for a tune-up and new video and sound cards so if you want me to reply to any reviews you'll have a long wait before I'll recieve the message. This also means that i won't be able to update for awhile. Sorry! T_T

Well, let's get to the next chapter.

Oh and this is dedicated to my older half sister Angela. Love ya sis! Hope you're in a better place.

I don't own TMNT. But just today, I found two actions figures of Donatello at Goodwill and- can you believe it? A BattleShell vehicle for all my TMNT action figures! ^_^ (Which are now seven in total: three Donatellos, two Leonardo's, one Raphael and one Michelanglo) I also got a red eared slider turtle and I've named him after my OC in my story "MY Brother". So now i have two turtles, a red eared slider named, Thade, and an alligator snapper named, Willie. (Thier real names are Thaden and William)

Well enough babbling, to the chapter!

* * *

April paced across the porch of the Farmhouse, watching the horizon for…something, although she KNEW that nothing and no one was coming. She sighed and glanced up on the rooftop where Casey was gazing out at the same horizon, sitting perched precariously on the edge.

"Casey!" she called up to him, "It's already sunset, we should head in!"

Casey shook his head, his blue eyes continuing to gleam as he stared out at the horizon.

"Sitting there isn't going to help anyone!"

Casey ignored her, of course he would probably be at the end of the woman's heat vision later on, but he couldn't go inside. Leo would be there soon…so he had to wait. Ok, the guy admitted it, he was acting like a certain red banded teenage mutant ninja turtle he used to know. Casey always knew that Raph had cared deeply for his family. When they went skull bashing during the nights, Raph's problems would always trail after him. It was either, going too far when pounding Mikey, going too far when sparring and/or fighting with Leo, going too far at ordering Don around and/or going too far at disobeying Splinter.

Realizing she wouldn't get any response from Casey at the moment, April growled under her breath in annoyance before stomping through the front door and slamming it behind her. When she was inside, the anger vanished from within her heart as soon as she heard the familiar voices of the young turtles.

"I WANT ANIKI!"

"WHERE IS HE!"

"LEO!"

April's heart broke at the sobs and wails of the young children as they yelled and pleaded for their older brother. April frowned and made her way up the stairs to the attic where she found Leatherhead trying his best to calm the three tots down. The turtles were still weary of humans, including her and Casey so the job of caring for them was left to Leatherhead. His attempt at cooking earlier though had been a failure but quite hilarious. Casey had claimed that there was nothing funnier than the mutant crocodile in an apron.

"And a pink frilly one at that," April mentally added, trying to smile and frown at the same time.

Lost in her thoughts, April never noticed the young tot approaching her until a little green hand reached out and poked her in the leg. Shaking away her thoughts, April looked down and saw a long missed, olive green turtle.

"Yes Donny?"

The young turtle took a step back, his wide blue eyes looking at her but occasionally drifting away from time to time as he spoke, "What happened to Leo? Where's Aniki?"

April frowned and bent down, holding out a patient hand to the young turtle, "I don't know Donny, but I'm sure he'll be fine. He'll probably be here in the morning."

Donny's eyes grew wide, "Really?"

April hated raising false hopes but she nodded. Donatello watched her unmoving hand curiously until he reached out and placed his own hand in hers, "You won't hurt us right? Not hurt us like _them_?"

April sighed sadly, "I would never hurt you Donny, you're like my little brother."

"That's how it was before right?"

"Hmm?"

"Aniki told us all these stories about you and that Casey guy and our…father."

April's eyes filled with tears but she raised her hand to wipe them away before they could spill. She felt a pang in her heart as Donny let his hand slip from hers. The olive green turtle turned away from her and walked back over to his group of brothers. Raph was glaring defiantly down at something in his hands while Mikey was sniffing as Leatherhead tried to lull him to sleep.

"April says that Aniki will be here tomorrow morning," Donny said happily, never noticing the woman behind him turning her back towards them and descending the stairs once again.

_False hopes…_

That was all they had…

* * *

That night, one turtle remained awake, staring out at the dark night sky that was littered with many shining stars, more than he had ever seen. He had seen _some _when his older brother had taken him and his other brothers to the outskirts of the city, of course, at that time he could only see two or three. Out where there were no bright lights surrounding them from glowing neon signs and lit-up billboards, the young tot could see the stars for miles. It was so amazing, but at the same time, he felt the eeriness of being alone.

"Mikey, what are you doing out of bed?"

The orange banded turtle turned away from the window and stared back at the familiar voice for a long two seconds before muttering, "Nothing Raphie."

The red masked turtle tot walked up to his baby brother and stared out the window before them, watching as a line of light flew across the sky. Not knowing what it was he just stared curiously until Mikey caught the look and glanced back out the window, catching the tail of the falling object.

"That's a shooting star," a new voice said from the hallway.

The two turtle tots jumped and spun around to see their purple masked brother standing in the doorway to the living room.

"Why is it falling?" Mikey asked, his curious, innocent personality coming over his face.

"I'm not sure," Donny said, walking up to the window, standing on tiptoe to see the starlit sky more clearly.

"Can't you find out?"

"I have a book on the stars and planets."

"Great!" Mikey cheered.

Silence…

Raph glanced away from the stars to see that small droplets of water were dampening the low windowsill.

"Donny?" Raph asked uneasily, remembering the time his younger brother had broken down after his nightmare.

"It-it's b-ba-back at th-the lair… back home."

Silence…

"Aniki…" Mikey mumbled, staring down, suddenly finding the warm, brown, wooden floor more comforting than the dark, chilling, black night sky.

They all stared at each other before looking out the window once again, this time at the full moon in the center of the sky.

"Aniki will be here in the morning, right Donny?" Mikey asked, his eyes only momentarily leaving the scene of the full moon before darting right back to it.

"Yeah, April said so."

"But what if he isn't?" Mikey asked, "What if he's-"

"He'll be here Mikey," Donny insured, "He wouldn't leave us-uh-alone."

Raph, who had been quietly gazing at the moon while the younger turtles conversed, now caught the waver in the purple masked turtle's voice. He walked up to the purple clad turtle and wrapped an arm around Donny's shoulders, letting the younger turtle turn and rest his head on his shoulder. Mikey walked up to them, his eyes begging the same thing. Raph smiled softly and wrapped his other arm around his baby brother, smiling when the youngest rested his head in the crook of Raph's neck, sighing softly.

Mikey sniffed suddenly after a minute of serene silence, "What are we going to do if Aniki's-"

"Don't worry," Raph said quickly, not letting the youngest finish his sentence, "Your big brother's still gonna take care of you."

"But Aniki's-" Donny protested before Raph shushed him.

"You still have me. I'll take care of you. I promise," Raphael said, pulling his little brothers closer.

Mikey and Donny snuggled into the comfort they were being offered.

For the young turtles, for just a moment, everything was ok. They stood together, as they knew they would in the future.

Then, there came a crackling and then, the world was horizontal. The turtle tots gasped as needles flew into their bodies and gasped as three hands wrapped their throats.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" someone screamed as a baseball bat entered their visions.

* * *

*Whistles inconspicuously while walking away.*

"MOONSETTA!"

Exit, stage left. VERY QUICKLY!

*Dodges shrunken.*

I'll update next week!

BYE!

~Moonsetta


	11. Ch 10 The Square Root Of 16

Ok, here's the update. You love me for updating don't you? Don't you? O_O T_T

Anyways, now I have to complain, why did people stop reviewing? Was it because of what I did to Leo? Everyone I- well I think you'll understand it from this chapter.

Warning: Actually none. No cliffhanger in this chapter I promise.

*Breaks open piggy bank* No Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. TT_TT If it's any consolation, I've got a teenage mutant rat. But that's it.

To the chapter!

* * *

Someone was shaking his shoulder very quickly and harshly.

"LEO WAKE UP!"

Then someone was holding him up against something hard but he could hear a beating rhythm underneath the hard surface. Was that a heartbeat he heard?

"YOU BETTER WAKE UP RIGHT NOW FEARLESS! WAKE UP!"

A soft hand on his head made him focus his attention on what he could recognize of his surroundings. There was a hand on his head, someone was holding him, and another hand was on his shoulder and it was shaking him? Yeah, and-and there were the voices. They were familiar. He _knew _that he had heard them many times before. Who were they?

"Guys I don't think he's-"

"HE'S FINE DON! FEARLESS WAKE UP!"

The one with the shaking hand moved closer, "Wake up bro."

"We have to leave, come on Mikey."

"But he could be-"

Footsteps faded into the distance. No, they couldn't leave him. He couldn't be alone.

"Come on Leo. You gotta wake up. Do it for them, do it for me."

The voice, begging, pleading, It didn't give Leo any options. He had to wake up! There was no choice. So with a great drive he forced his eyelids open and stared up at a red masked green figure above him. What shocked Leo to the core was that the turtle holding him was his sixteen-year-old brother. Not the four-year-old toddler he'd been taking care of.

"Raph?"

The red banded turtle glanced back down and a smile immediately lit his face, "Leo!"

Although he had become accustomed to his younger brothers, that is the four-year-olds outbursts of random affection, seeing it from his 16-year-old brother was strange, not that it was too rare, but still-

"Mikey! Donny! He's ok!" Raph shouted to a doorway across the small room they were in.

Leo took the chance to look around at the place and realized that it looked like the dojo. Then he remembered, the attack! Did the others get out alright? Where were the Foot? His thoughts were stopped short when Mikey and Donny, both in their sixteen-year-old forms again, rushed in and fell by his side, embracing him tightly.

"We miss you Leo," Don said, as the brothers pulled away.

"Miss?" Leo questioned, "You mean 'miss' as in, present tense?"

Mikey sighed and reached towards the floor, his hand fazing right through it.

"What's going on?" Leo asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"We needed to keep you from slipping away," Raph said, his normally sarcastic scowl gone from his face.

"Slipping away?"

"You're hurt Leo," Mikey explained, pointing towards the floor.

Leo glanced down to find the floor gone. Nothing but air was between them and a figure laying below a pile of tumbled debris. The eldest turned his frightened eyes up to his brothers.

"But you three you were-are you guys still-?"

Leo's question was cut off by the sound of laughing voices. He looked across the room and saw his four-year-old little brothers pushing trucks across the floor, but their images were distilled and transparent.

"But they're-"

"Cute aren't they?" Mikey said with a smile.

"You can't go away Leo," Don said, "They need you."

"But-"

"Leo. They. Need. You." Don emphasized.

Then, Leo understood. These spirits were the memories.

"Will you guys, come back?" Leo asked, staring at each of them sadly.

"You'll definitely see me again bro!" Mikey said with a wink.

Leo turned to Don, who smiled, "I'll be back too bro, I'll be a little different though. I'll be a lot stronger."

Breathing a sigh of relief Leo lastly turned to his old hothead little brother. Raph met his eyes and smiled softly, a kind compassionate smile that was rarely seen on his face. He reached out and rested his hand on Leo's shoulder. His eyes held a kind of sadness in them but still held a spark of hope as well.

"Don't worry big bro, we're all coming back, it'll take some time, but we'll be back. We'll know everything again, we'll just be a little different. I'll be more different than the others, but I'll still be me."

Raph glanced over as his four-year-old self reached out and pulled the four-year-old Mikey away from a tower of tumbling building blocks.

"Besides, the way it looks now, I'm gonna be better looking up to my hero a second time."

"Hero?" Leo asked, shocked as they sat side by side.

That's when Leo noticed that Mikey and Donny were no longer with them.

"Where did they go?" Leo said frantically, his eyes desperately scanning the room.

"They're there," Raph said, motioning to the tots playing with little figurines of jungle animals, "We're all there bro and we need our big brother around. They need you bro, and don't worry. We're coming home"

A white light filled Leo's vision and he found himself pinned to the floor in the garage with debris on top of his shell. The area seemed deserted but torn to pieces. He struggled out from under the debris and glanced outside the garage, noticing the disappearing figures in the distance. The blue clad turtle smiled.

"Stupid Foot ninja," Leo muttered, knowing he had to get to his family.

His eyes scanned the tattered floor until his eyes fell onto Raphael's motorcycle, it was laying on its side on the floor but appeared not to be damaged too badly. He stood it up and tried the engine, grinning when the engine came to life. He looked outside through the dented garage door as he picked up the amazingly undamaged red helmet from the floor without having to look at it.

It was time to find his family. His little brothers needed him.

* * *

Wow, what a chapter and I wrote it before school. Yay! And I must say, I never mentioned that Leo was killed when he stayed behind to hold off the Foot ninja. Why would I do something so cliché?

Please review. Pretty please. I have my computer back and can now update more. PLEASE REVIEW or I won't have the strength to go on.

*Falls back into chair dramatically.* The light, I see the light. And it's a whole bunch of reviews!

Dramatic aren't I?

~Moonsetta


	12. Ch 11 4ever 2gether

Ha! I knew that bright light was a bunch of reviews! Thanks everyone! I'm glad people are still reading this story.

Now let's see…

*Breaks open fortune cookie*

_You are not the owner of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles._

Please enjoy this chapter while I mourn in the corner. WAH!

_

* * *

_

Smack!

_Clank!_

_Bang! _

_Crash!_

_Boom!_

The combination of noises woke April and Casey at the same time. They both rushed down the stairs only to nearly fall over a group of groaning bodies at the foot of the stairs. Their eyes immediately scanned the room for others, and the young turtle tots.

"April, Casey," said a patient voice from the doorway, "Thank you."

The two humans looked towards the door and saw a shadowed figure. Cries reached their ears the next second. Cries that they recognized as the turtle tots.

"Raph! Donny! Mikey!" they cried out, momentarily believing that it was a Foot ninja that had the toddlers.

Imagine their surprise when the ninja that stepped out of the shadows, was a familiar, blue masked turtle.

"Aniki," the three tots were muttering as they were held in their big brother's arms.

"Leo…" April breathed, a smile stretching across her face.

* * *

An hour later, the three turtle tots were asleep on a large mattress in one of the rooms upstairs, Casey had left to dump the Foot soldiers off far away from the farmhouse, and the remaining human and turtle were in the kitchen, Leo telling April how he had escaped the Foot and the strange vision he had had when he was unconscious. Leatherhead, who had been in the basement at first, had gotten himself tangled in a mess of electric wires when he had heard the sound of the shell cycle engine in the distance. This therefore, was why he did not appear immediately. Currently, he was outside, attempting to fix the broken living room door that the Foot ninja and broken into a jigsaw puzzle.

"Wow," April breathed. If she hadn't at one time been shown a vision from that y'lintain when they had to stop that nuclear waste from spilling into the river and killing the last of the creature's eggs, then she probably wouldn't have believed Leo.

"I just don't know what to think of it," Leo said, staring down at the table and tilting his head forward so a shadow covered his eyes.

"It seems like they just wanted you to come back to them."

"April, will I ever get my brothers back?"

The switch in tone made April automatically frown before she even caught the words. She swallowed a large gulp of the green tea before her and then took a deep breath, "Of course you will. They'll be back."

April couldn't really say she believed it, and although it wasn't much she tried to push as much assurance in her words as she could. Leo shook his head as he glanced up at April, his eyes had a slight shine to them.

"Don't you understand April? Yes, they're my little brothers. I'll always love them, but they're never going to be the same."

April glanced to the side in perpetual thought before clearing her throat, "You're right. They are going to be different, but they'll be the same too. Mikey will still be the life of the party, Donny's still going to be a genius, and Raph's still going to be hotheaded."

Leo turned his eyes away from her.

"Look Leo," April said, glaring at the blue clad turtle to get his attention, "Those three sixteen-year-old turtles you called your brothers loved you just as much as those three toddler turtles upstairs. They've always looked up to you, always followed you and always will."

The blue masked turtle let out a small chuckle, "You know? I was just thinking something ironic."

"What?" the red head asked, her green eyes sparing with curiosity.

"It just reminds me of something I read in the book _The Art of War_," Leo explained before glancing at the window when a leaf was blown up against the glass.

"Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death," Leo quoted.

"You're still their brother Leo," April reminded.

"But I have to be their father too."

April tapped her fingertips against the table top, "It must be hard."

Leo raised a hand to his face and wiped at his eyes, "Thanks, I needed to get that out. All I can do is my best. I know I can't be a father like Master Splinter was, but I can try."

April lowered her eyes to the table in thought as she filed through her memories, she tried to picture Raph not hotheaded, Donny not working on something electronic and Mikey not sitting in front of a television playing videogames or watching a superheroes show while gulping down junk food…

She couldn't see it.

"ANIKI!" she heard the distant call as the blue clad turtle walked into the living room.

She smiled sweetly and joined them. Leo was sitting on the couch, smiling his normal, soft, caring smile at his younger brothers as they each tried to crawl into his lap. They had obviously all woken up from their nap and ran down stairs to find their brother. Leatherhead was now inside and swinging the door open and closed to test the hinges. Just as the mutant crocodile closed the door for a final time, Casey came in, causing the wood of the door to crack.

"Oops," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Casey!" April said, "Leatherhead just fixed that!"

"What did you do with the Foot ninjas?" Leo asked, ignoring April's outburst.

"Nearest Police HQ," Casey said with a grin.

"Good," Leo said, adjusting the way he was sitting so the tots could all curl up to him, snuggling into his plastron.

"So now what will be our course of action?" Leatherhead asked, him and the humans looking to Leo.

Leo shouted, "What are you looking at me for?"

Or at least that's what he **wanted **to yell, but he knew he couldn't, they were all counting in him. He took a deep breath, and thought it over for five seconds before answering.

"We'll leave for New York later tonight. April, Casey, find a hotel somewhere, you're safe as long as you're both in the public's eye. Leatherhead, I know ask a lot of you so I'm sorry, but we can't return to our home and the surface is not an option so if you'll-"

"You are welcome to my home, my friend, I will try not to grow angry."

Leo looked down at his quiet little brothers before sighing, he knew how dangerous Leatherhead could get when he lost his temper, but he and his family had no choice at the moment.

* * *

Later that night a single turtle was tossing and turning in his sleep. One might think it was Donatello who was plagued with a similar nightmare from before the Foot appeared in April's apartment, one might even think it the youngest being haunting by the fear of losing his eldest brother, but no. The tot tossing and turning frightfully was the red masked turtle, Raphael, and although it was unbeknownst to him, his nightmares were more than nightmares.

_Raph found himself standing on a thick carpet watching a clock above him tick away its tune. He just stood there staring at it curiously._

"_Guys, I'm starting to get worried," a new voice said, causing Raph to jump and turn around._

_What he saw made him fall back and caused his eyes to widen in amassment. There before him stood three, older turtles, they looked like Leo, only one had Raphael's mask._

"_Leo should've been back by now," the orange masked one continued._

"_I know this is weird, but, I'm thinking Mikey's right," a purple masked turtle said, holding a long, wooden stick in his hands._

"_Master Splinter?" another voice said. _

_Raph turned and saw that the red masked older turtle was talking to some kind of rat creature. _

"_Wait, that name's familiar," Raph thought, then it struck him- Their father! The one their older brother was always telling them about!_

_A woman he recognized as April walked up behind Splinter, glancing down at him expectantly. _

_The rat breathed a difficult sigh and said with a strain, "Go."_

_The larger turtles took three steps away from the clock when they heard a scream in the distance. Raph heard shattering glass and turned to see a green, shell-backed body fly through the window and land on the floor with a struggling gasp. Then, he recognized the figure, "ANIKI!"_

"_Leo?"_

"_Leo, what happened!"_

_The other three larger turtles ran to him, their faces showing looks of horror and fear. The little red masked toddler was frozen in place. The orange masked turtle fell to his knees and lifted Leo's head as the red masked turtle clasped his hands together in anxiety. _

"_Who did this to you?" the red banded demanded._

_Leo tried to answer, but only shaking breaths escaped his throat before his eyes closed._

"_NO!" the turtle tot shouted running over to his big brother, only to faze through him._

"_What?" he asked, "Aniki?"_

_The sight of his big brother laying still, motionless, beaten, bloody and bruised scared him stiff, his legs grew weak and he fell to his knees before the other turtles. His eyes remained on Leo until he heard the red masked older turtle growl. The angry turtle got up and narrowed his eyes into slits before harshly turning to the window Leo had crashed through, pulling some kind of three pronged knives from his belt and spinning them in his hands._

"_I'm gonna find out who did this!" he growled as he jumped onto the windowsill._

"_No Raph, wait."_

"_WHAT!" the tot shouted looking between his older brother and the older turtle with a red mask just like his own._

"_That's me?" _

_Even if he could've interacted with them, he wouldn't have received an answer before a white light filled his vision. In the distance, all he could hear was a familiar scream._

* * *

When Raphael sat bolt upright from his nightmare, it occurred to him. That wasn't a dream or nightmare. That had been real.

_That_ was a memory.

* * *

Ah… it seems that our little turtle family is back together, it's obvious that Leo still has his doubts and what's this the tots are starting to remember? Well, in the next chapter you'll find out what _exactly _happened to Raph, Donny and Mikey. You did get a small glance earlier but now you'll get all the details.

Please leave cookies and reviews. Please? For the children?

*Holds up chibi turtle tots with wide blue eyes* Please?

~Moonsetta


	13. Ch 12 Dust

Anyways, I have to think of a new way of saying that I don't own the ninja turtles. Let's see…

Eh… I can't think of a way right now. So just read the chapter while I think…

* * *

Leo sat on the porch of the farmhouse, taking the third watch. Since the Foot had followed him to the farmhouse, they had all agreed to take shifts watching the area for danger. An old friend of his, guilt, was nipping at his stomach but he succeeded in pushing it away for the time being. He could feel sorry for himself later, he had things to do. The blue clad turtle sighed and watched the wind blow a few stray leaves from the surrounding trees across the yard.

Since he felt he had little more to do than keep watch he allowed his mind to drift back to how this all had started in the first place. He felt stupid for a minute, if only he had.

He mentally slapped himself, "Stop thinking like that. It doesn't change anything and it isn't going to help you right now."

_

* * *

_

It had been a normal day. A normal stressful day for the blue clad leader. Despite being on their own for nearly a year since their father's passing, his brothers still fell into their normal habits. Leonardo had been meditating in the dojo, cooling down from his extra practice when-

_CRASH!_

_He sighed, "What now?"_

_Already in the five hours that they had all been up, three things had been broken, a television, the toaster (Why was it always the toaster!), and strangely the deep fryer. The deep fryer in the past had managed to escape every disaster the kitchen was put through, even two fires, but this time it had been in wrong place. Said place was in Raphael's reach when he was ticked off._

_Leo got to his feet, walked outside the dojo and into the main room to find the couch over turned and his red and orange masked brothers fighting over the remote._

"_Let go Mikey, I wanna see the race!"_

"_Forget it dude, wrestling's on!"_

_Leo sighed and slapped his forward with a shake of his head before walking up and snatching up the remote from the fumbling hands, "Enough already! Guys, we have 15 TV sets in here, you can each watch your own show."_

"_Raph always turns it up too loud!"_

"_You're the one that turns it up so loud the walls shake!" Raph retaliated. _

_Leo groaned, he was quickly getting a migraine. Donatello had said it was some kind of medical condition that happened to people who were attuned to the pull of gravity. Whatever that was supposed to mean. _

"_Maybe we could all use some time topside," Leo suggested, placing the remote on the coffee table, knowing he would have to excavate the couch to find it the next day._

"_You're letting us go topside?" Raph asked in shock, ever since the Purple Dragons and Foot ninja had both attack a weapons warehouse near the docks a few days prior, the eldest had been dead set against letting any of them go topside. Raph had been given the 'privilege' of being allowed to scout the sewers, but nothing more._

"_We've given them enough time to get comfortable and to let their guards down, now's the best time to investigate."_

"_Can't we investigate tomorrow?" Mikey asked, "Tonight's the semi-final match and-"_

_BOOM!_

_A huge explosion sent rubble and soot everywhere._

"_Don!" they all shouted at the sight of the smoking genius turtle's lab before the previously mentioned genius turtle stumbled out of the cloud of smoke and soot, "Darn it! I added too much nitrogen. Need to work on that glycerin mix."_

"_Why the shell are you making nitroglycerin?" Leo asked, both he and Raph sharing shocked stares._

_Mikey looked clueless but then sighed, "Ok, maybe we do need to get out."_

_So , after they had cleaned up the mess and Donatello managed to rid himself of the soot completely encasing him, the four turtles headed out into the night. Once they had reached the docks they had split up, searching for any trace the Foot or Purple Dragons could have left behind although, it was unlikely, they weren't ones to leave calling cards, plus the authorities had long searched and explored the area. Then again, ninja noticed some things others didn't. Like an almost molecular sized piece of red and black cloth caught on the dented pole of what looked to be an old stop sign. This was where the blue clad turtle found himself and where two minutes later, he was facing a group of fierce fighting Foot ninja._

_It wasn't a large band, only 20 normal sword and bo staff wielding Foot soldiers. So it wasn't long before the blue masked turtle had them groaning on the ground in pain or unconscious. It was then that his shell cell rang. A quick glance at the caller ID revealed that it was Donatello. He answered the call only to step back in shock._

"_If you want to see your brothers alive again, come to the warehouse on 3__rd__ and 5__th__."_

"_STOCKMAN! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THEM!"_

_A harsh laughing echoed from the line before it went dead. 3__rd__ and 5__th__, that was a few miles from the docks! Unable to do much about it Leo grumbled and tucked his shell cell back into his belt before setting off across the rooftops. When he reached the warehouse, it appeared that it had been long deserted but he knock in a window and slipped inside finding clean, white walls of a bare room. He ran to the door and tugged it open, only to glance across the large hallway towards a room that was expelling a purple colored gas. A crash came from within and shock ran through Leo's spine. His brothers were in there, he knew it. He had to get them out! He rushed to the doorway and pulled the handle. _

_Locked. Duh. _

_But if Stockman thought that a simple locked door was going to stop Hamato Leonardo well he was dead wrong! Emphasis on DEAD!_

_It took one powerful kick and the metal door bent backwards into the room as the purple gas began clearing. A blue light momentarily blinded Leo after he set one foot inside. When he reopened his eyes, the gas wasn't filling the air any longer, the bright light, whatever it had been, was gone and half of the lights had gone out, leaving the opposite side of the room crowded with dark shadows. Leo cautiously stepped forward, his brothers had to still be here. He felt it. He couldn't understand how he was able to sense it, but his instincts were screaming it at him. He took one step towards the opposite side of the room and gasped when he caught the sight of a red mask._

"_Raphael!" he shouted and ran the last few steps, falling near the bright cloth and reaching out to pull his younger brother into the light, only to fall back onto his shell when he found himself staring not at his sixteen-year-old brother but a turtle toddler, who was unconscious and breathing quite heavily. Just then, the darkened lights decided to flip back on, revealing two other turtles behind a row of steel bars. _

"_Donatello, Michelangelo…" Leo breathed, his eyes wide in shock when he realized that the orange and purple masked turtles inside the cell were just like Raphael, toddlers._

* * *

Leo turned his head to the doorway of the farmhouse, "Yes Casey?"

"You go get some rest Leo," Casey said, resting a sympathetic hand on Leo's shoulder.

"Ok," Leo said, momentarily closing his eyes before getting to his feet and walking back inside the farmhouse, closing the door behind him; relieved to let Casey take the next watch.

Of course, this wasn't because he was tired, he was far from it. He felt a sense of something uncompleted. Completely irritated and not knowing why, he took out his katanas and preformed a few moves with them.

"Aniki?" a small voice asked.

Leo turned and his eyes widened at the site of his little brother standing on the bottom step of the staircase, his face shining with continually falling tears.

* * *

Ok, time for a break. I'm going to stuff my face with candy. Hopefully I can gain a few pounds. Anyone else have that problem? You can eat and eat and eat but you don't gain a pound you actually lose more! It drives me insane!

Anyways, my problems aside. I'll update again in three or four more days.

Which reminds me, anyone have any encouraging words? I've got to make a speech in 9 days on the 6th and although I'm not shy in school, I am very quiet. I'm not really worried about the speaking part, my voice is horrible I've come to accept that, it's the speech I have problems with. I don't think it's going to be any good. It's a manuscript speech so I'll pretty much be reading it to my class. I just hope it's at least decent because my English teacher rarely says anything good on my papers. I mean, she's an excellent teacher and analyzer it's just that this is the first piece she's actually complimented me on. Before it was just like, a misspelled word here, add a coma here, add this, analyze don't summarize and pointing out some grammatical mistakes. I'm sorry to strangely sound kind of like Leo but…I don't want to let her down or my parents for that matter, the semester's drawing to a close.

Ugh, I'm a mess. Well, wish me luck. I need it.

Review if you think this story is going somewhere! Please?

~Moonsetta


	14. Ch 13 Courage

Thanks for all the encouragement guys. I liked Who's the best. Are you a cheerleader? Thanks! You're an awesome reader!

Anyways, I'll let everyone know how the speech comes out when the time comes around. I hope I get a good grade. Oh well…I'm happy to be taking a college course even though I'm still in high school. ^_^

Well, back to the story. Yes, our blue clad ninja turtle has his stereotypical doubts and self-blaming thoughts.

Ok and a quick note. EVERYONE READ!

One-shot gift for the one who can guess what the blue light was Leo saw before he came into Stockman's lab.

Now…

*Runs around with property labels, but can't find the turtles.* T_T

* * *

Raph sat up from the mattress he was laying on with a gasp. He glanced down at his hand. It was still the same size. A child's hand. He continued breathing heavily as he glanced to his right where Mikey and Donny were sleeping quite peacefully beside him. Mikey had rolled up like a burrito in the grey blanket and Donny had his legs on the floor next to the mattress. The red masked turtle tot turned to his left and moved back until he felt his shell meet the rolled up blanket. His eyes were pinned to the window in fear. He wanted to get up and find his older brother but then…

He saw the shadows reaching for him. He could just see it. He would get up, take one step and then something would creep out of the shadows and snatch him up in it's very tangible, sharp claws. It would pull the tot along with it into the rest of the shadows and then he would be gone. It wasn't that he suddenly feared the dark, it was more that he feared what was in the dark.

A shuffling behind him and stout movement of his youngest brother startled him before he froze, as if he could physically _feel _some kind of long finger-nailed hands slowly snaking their way up his shell, right along the center.

"Hm…Nii-san," the youngest mumbled before everything fell silent again.

Raph let a breath of relief escape him as he looked back to see Mikey actually attempting to eat the blanket, as if it were cotton candy! Knowing Mikey, it was more than likely what he was dreaming about.

The, Nii-san, had been the thing to startle Raphael. They all referred to their older brother as, Aniki. So it was clear that Leo wasn't the one Mikey had called out for in his dream. The turtle tots had been amazed that there was actually more than one word to describe a family relation.

Nii-san, simply meant a standard way of saying older brother, while the term Aniki meant older brother with an edge of hero-like affection. And well- Leo was a hero. This was set and welded into the tots' minds. He always told them stories of fighting bad guys and he had saved them from that Foot ninja. The young ones had been sure that the Foot ninja that had stuffed them into the closet would've come back to finish them off if their older brother hadn't of shown up.

"Aniki," Raph mumbled and tried to gather the courage to get up and walk across the bare, wooden, floor, open the creaky door, walk down the squeaky stairs and then locate his big brother among the shadows downstairs.

When he had accomplished these things and stood at the bottom step of the staircase, he couldn't actually recall doing anything. It was if he had wished he was already at the end of the perilous journey and then he was. He found then that he didn't have to search the shadows for his older brother, Leo was in the middle of the room, moving with his swords like he had back before all of the chaos had started.

"Aniki," he whispered in a small voice.

Leo turned and for a moment, the glance his brother held made Raphael imagine that he was once again staring at the foot ninja, but then the splash of blue color and eyes of worry and guilt brought him back to reality, unaware that there were tears running down his face, leftovers from his nightmare-memory?

He was aware of Leo walking closer and scooping up before he was surrounded by arms with familiar green skin. The normally basic green skin had darkened in the shadows of the house and now it appeared to be a forest green shade. Still, it didn't matter, those arms protected him while his nightmare-er memory played over and over in his head. When Raph raised his head from where he had had it buried in Leo's shoulder, he found that a small lamp beside the couch had been turned on, giving off a dim light. There was a glint and Raph caught the gleam of the silver blades that his older brother carried, sitting on the table with the lamp.

_"I was practicing katas, practicing my ninjitsu," Leo explained, "We-um I use it for self defense."_

Then, Raphael recalled the image in his dream, the red masked ninja, the red sais spinning in his hands. The tot pulled back and glanced up at his older brother. He could see it. His mind mixed and matched all of it, blending the images together. The blue mask…the red mask… The swords…the sais.. Then, another shade of red came into his mind. Instead of the familiar fire red mask that clothed his own face, he saw the distant memory but this time, the red wasn't fire red, he saw crimson, bright crimson and then the image darkened, the hue losing distance from black. The crimson faded to a brownish, red rust color. The color of dried blood.

The images and memories had him burying his face in Leo's shoulder again. The blue clad turtle found that this was simply his little brother coming to him because of a nightmare. The young turtles had had many since their, reverse aging. So when Raphael pulled back, scrubbed at his eyes, jumped to the floor and turned his narrowed eyes on him, the eldest's jaw dropped in shock and surprise. The young, four-year-old turtle tot was staring at him so intently, he had to forcibly keep his eyes on his brothers.

And then a simply sentence nearly blew the blue masked leader away from the physical plane.

"I want to learn ninjitsu." Raph said so determinedly, that a fire lit in his eyes.

It was a fire that despite a fire's natural burning heat, somehow quenched a thirst in the eldest. Suddenly, he didn't feel that he was staring at the toddler before him. The eyes, though a different color now, probably a reaction to that gas or a chemical Stockman had used on them, the blue orbs held that same fire of determination Raphael had always seemed to posses.

All of the thoughts running around in his head and Leo could only blink once as his mind tried to grasp what his red masked brother had said to him.

"Please," Raph said, "You can teach me and then I can help you protect Donny and Mikey when they're in trouble and I could help you too. Like my dream, I could protect you when you're hurt."

Leo blinked in surprise at the prolific words that had constructed those two simple statements and opened his mouth to reply that, no, it wasn't necessary or fair that such a young child had to learn such a thing, when Raph spoke again.

"Please Aniki?"

"Raphael um-I-"

"Please," Raph said quietly before he drew what in this situation was the trump card, "Sensei."

The young tot's eyes began sparkling as Leo continued to stare down at him. The blue and onyx shades clashed and remained stock still. Leo couldn't turn away when he saw the amount of hope and affection pouring from the blue hues. And he couldn't…say no.

Finally, the elder turtle sighed and said, "Ok, I'll teach you."

No sooner did Leo say those words when April rushed down the stairs, a notebook, in bad shape, tucked under her arm. The excitement on her face made the blue clad turtle shoot to his feet in concern.

"Leo! I figured it out!" April said as she took deep breaths of oxygen, bending over slightly at the bottom of the staircase, "I know how to turn your brothers back!"

To Be Continued….

* * *

Well that's it for now.

See everyone later!

Review please? I'm not demanding it but may I have five reviews for this chapter? Pretty please?

~Moonsetta


	15. Ch 14 Hope

ALRIGHT! WE HAVE OUR CHAMPION! And so early in the story too wow. Well as for the **first **one to answer the blue light challenge correctly, there will be a one-shot gift to them, but I will not reveal the answer or the name of the one who answered. At least not yet. In a few chapters, everyone will find out what the blue light really was and when it does come up in the chapter I'll reveal who answered it correctly. Remember the gift is for the one who answered it correctly, **first**.

First come, first serve.

*Opens first door-finds goats*

*Opens second door-more goats*

*Opens third door, life-time supply of candy canes*

NO TURTLES! TT_TT

* * *

"You have?" Leo asked in astonishment as he stared at the red haired human and giant, mutated crocodile.

The three of them, Casey and the red masked turtle tot were all gathered in the kitchen.

Leatherhead nodded as he looked down at an old laptop on the table which was covered in many places with duck tape, "We have located a now, active abandoned Foot lab beneath an abandoned construction site on the east side of town."

"Whatever chemical or gas Stockman used, we can find there maybe even something to reverse it. Reverse aging hasn't ever been successful and as a scientist, Stockman will have to have someway to reverse it," April explained.

"You two are geniuses," Leo praised from where he was sitting at the kitchen table with the miniature Raphael in his lap.

The red masked tot wasn't sure what was going on. He wanted to talk to his older brother about that training, but whatever was going on was obviously more important so he just sat still and listened. Maybe he could pick up on something he could help with.

"Are you two positive Stockman's there?" Casey asked, trying to make out the green numbers flying by on the slightly cracked computer screen, the result unfortunately, was him getting a headache.

Leo pulled Raph into his arms and stood up, "I'll get the others, you all get into the Battle Shell, we're leaving for New York now."

The others nodded and headed outside while Leo and Raph ascended the stairs, the young tot staring at the shadows.

"What's wrong Raphael?"

The red clad turtle tot glanced up, his blue eyes speckled with fear and worry, "They're gone right? Those bad people, they won't come out of the shadows and grab us again will they?"

Leo shook his head, "No, I won't let them."

There was a silence for the next few seconds as they neared the second story then-

"Aniki?"

"Hmm?"

"What about the ninjitsu training?"

Leo stopped and smiled down at his younger brother, "If everything works out, then all three of you will have your memories back and you will all know ninjitsu again as well."

"Ok," Raph said, although something was pecking at his mind. Something about this idea seemed…not necessarily wrong, but somewhat unfair. If what Leo had told them was true that they weren't always like this then why did they have to go back? What if they wanted to stay like they were?

* * *

"I'll ride the Shell Cycle back!" Casey shouted before April grabbed on to his ear.

"Oh no you won't," April said, dragging him towards the BattleShell where Leatherhead was helping the turtle tots into the back of the vehicle.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Hey I need that ear!" Casey complained as April shoved into the passenger seat and claiming the driver side for herself.

Leatherhead reached for the last tot, which was Raph but the red clad turtle backed up and turned when he spotted Leo walking behind him.

"Aniki, can I ride with you? Please?" Raph begged, clasping his tiny hands together in hope.

"No Raph, it's too dangerous and you don't have a helmet."

Raph sighed in disappointment before turning back to Leatherhead, but to his surprise, Donatello was standing there, hiding something behind his back. Then he said one of the strangest things.

"Yes he does Aniki!" Don shouted to the eldest turtle.

Leo turned around in curiosity before his eyes widened slightly in surprise. There was his purple clad brother, holding a miniature-sized motorcycle helmet.

"Donatello, where did you get that!"

"I found it the last time we went scavenging and fixed it up," Don said, handing the helmet down to Raph, "Go on Raphie, but I get to ride with Aniki next time!"

"No fair! I want to ride on the motorcycle!' Mikey cried from inside.

Raph glanced over at Leo, his face appearing to grow even more innocent than it was.

Leo almost bent backwards at the glance. How had his father ever resisted that look?

"It's dangerous for you, you're too young and-"

"Plllleeeeaaassseee Aniki?" Raph whined, trying to hide a smile.

"Well," Leo groaned , "Fine but we're going at the minimum speed."

"YAY!"

* * *

So it was hours later that the blue clad turtle, paired up with Casey of all people, found himself sneaking into the previously mentioned laboratory. His ears were still ringing from where Raph had ridden with him. The red clad turtle tot kept shouting "Faster! Faster! FASTER!"

Truthfully, the eldest already felt the migraine coming on, but why his stomach was flipping over itself, he wasn't entirely sure.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Casey suddenly asked, causing Leo to jump, spin around and slap his hand over the vigilante's mouth.

"Casey," Leo whispered harshly, "Not when we're ten feet from the door."

"Jeez sorry," Casey said while rolling his eyes.

Leo matched his eyes roll with his own and then turned back to find his way down the dark tunnel they were in. According the schematics the door was right.

_Thump!_

Casey had ran right into it in the dark, "Uh I think I found the door."

"Way to go, you're finally using your head," Leo remarked, walking around the fallen human and stopping when his outstretched hand met the door.

He smiled and pried the door open with his sword. Reflected white light blinded the two of them but their eyes adjusted quickly, revealing a bare, white room.

"Let's move." Leo said determinedly, sensing no traps or monitoring devices in the room.

"Wait Leo," April said over the communicator Leo was wearing.

"Yes April?"

"Let me do a scan of the building."

"Ok, but make it fast."

"Already done, there were weight sensors on the floor but I've deactivated them."

Leo sighed in relief as he moved across the room, "Thanks April. How are the others?"

"We're all fine Leo, now I'll guide you the rest of the way."

"How come I didn't get one of them?" Casey asked, motioning to the communicator.

Leo ignored the question and pushed open the door that lead to a dark hallway.

"Now, there's a mass reading of electromagnetic, biological and chemical activity coming from the fifth door on your left," April explained.

Casey, truthfully, felt bored of all this, he had expected to get something to smash by now. He tried to distract himself by looking down to the right side of the hallway where he noticed the glow of a small white light. He thought he saw a shadow there before the was a flash of blue light.

"Casey come on," Leo said, reaching over and pulling Casey along by his shirt.

"Hey!"

"Shh."

Seconds later they found themselves inside a lab the Leatherhead and the old Donatello would've been envious of. A large computer took up an entire wall.

"Now Leo, do you remember anything about the lab Stockman was in before?"

"There was the purple gas that had filled the air," Leo said as his eyes drifted around until they stopped on a small glass cube where a purple gas was currently thinning inside.

"Wait, I may have found it," Leo said, walking over to the cube and noticing that inside was what appeared to be a tadpole in a paper cup. Beside the cube sat an aquarium full of frogs, all of which were either unconscious or dead.

The blue clad turtle heard Casey mumble something about biology class before a door on the stand that held up the cube opened, Revealing a small tube of boiling, purple liquid.

"I've found the chemical April."

"Hold the analyzer I gave you up to it, I'll run a scan. Look around for anything else that could help lead to an antidote."

Leo did as he was told, holding a weird device that reminded him of the handheld weapons he once saw on Star Trek up to the tube of purple liquid that continued to boil.

"I'll have the analyzation done in moments," April said.

Leo glanced back at Casey to find that the vigilante was staring at the aquarium of frogs and tapping the glass cautiously with his hockey stick.

One of the frogs twitched in its unconscious state, causing Casey to scream and jump backwards.

"Casey!" Leo whispered loudly, "Do want Stockman to know we're here?"

"Leo?"

"Yes April?"

"Are there any other chemicals nearby?"

"There's stand with about a dozen in it, all different colors."

"Scan them all with the analyzer, there's a good chance that one of them is the one we'll need."

Leo scanned the others and endured the short waiting time by shifting the analyzer in his hand. He was always so wary of guns. He hated them with a passion. He remembered he once ranted to someone about if for a good 15 minutes, although right now, he couldn't remember who it had been. He glanced over to find Casey poking at the frogs again.

"Got it!" April said over the communicator, "There is an antidote that will reverse the affects. It's the yellow one on the far right, next to some kind of outlet."

Leo reached over and scooped it up.

"While you're there, destroy the others," April said.

Leo agreed and picked the rack up, "Hey Casey! Batter up."

It only took one swing from the now, hockey masked, vigilante and his baseball bat.

"Now, we've been far too lucky," Leo said, staring at the walls, "Let's go, this is too easy and I don't like it."

It was true, the answer to all their problems and not one obstacle in their way? What were the chances of that, especially with that 'turtle luck' always following them?

Without warning Casey shot forward and grabbed something hiding in the shadows outside the room. But wait, Leo was sure he had closed that door.

"Looks like one of your shadows followed you," Casey said as he walked back into the room.

Leo was shocked to see Michelangelo being held in Casey's grip.

"LET ME GO! ANIKI!"

"Michelangelo what are you doing here?" Leo said harshly.

"I wanted to come with you," Mikey said, still kicking at Casey and struggling to get out of his hold, "Donny gets to hang out with Leatherhead and learn cool and Raph gets to spend time with you. But no one spends time with me."

Mikey stopped struggling and crossed his arms with a pout, his lower lip stuck out. Leo took a struggled breath while clenching his teeth and then said, "We'll discuss this when we get out of here Michelangelo."

Mikey struggled again, this time his kick landing right on Casey's stomach, causing the vigilante to double over and drop him.

Of course, Leo had been right. It had all been too easy. This fact was only further proven when numerous panels on the walls opened and five dozen, armed robots jumped down into the room, encircling the two turtles and one human.

Then, a familiar voice echoed from the walls, "Return that serum turtle."

"Dream on Stockman!" Leo shouted, slipping the sealed vial into his belt before pulling out his swords. He stood back-to-back or shell-to-back with Casey, ready for a fight, but then their stances faltered when they heard shout.

"LET ME GO! LET GO!" Mikey shouted as a robot snatched him up.

The turtle tot struggled until the icy feel of the gun the robot held was jammed into the base of his skull, at which point he instantly fell silent.

"MIKEY! LET HIM GO!" Leo shouted, his eyes burning with rage.

If there was one lesson any observer, friend, or ally of the turtles learned, it was that when you threatened one of them, the others would chase you down and tear you to shreds like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. And said blood-thirsty, murderous desire was currently burning in the blue clad turtles eyes.

Of course, even with the years of training in speed and strength, there was nothing he could do as the gun clicked and the shot rang out through the room.

* * *

Wow, have I killed Mikey again?

"MOONSETTA!"

AHHHHHH!

*Runs away, screaming hysterically while being chased by psychotic blue masked turtle.*

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

AHHHHHHHHHH!-

Please review!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

~Moonsetta


	16. Ch 15 Chance

Ok, note to self. People do NOT like dead turtle tots.

Ok now this going to be very short. I'm sorry but I can't make this chapter much longer since there's so little that actually happens. I guess that's why I'm updating it now.

*Draws on map of NYC sewer with compass and protractor*

Where are they! -_-

*Blade slides in front of neck*

"Hello Moonsetta."

*Gulp* Hi Leo…BYE LEO!

*Runs off*

"COME BACK HERE YOU BETTER GET THAT GUN AWAY FROM MY BROTHER OR I'M GOING TO SLICE YOU IN TO RIBBONS!"

* * *

Leo's hand automatically went to the communicator he was wearing.

"Static pulse ray," Stockman's voice said from the ceiling when Leo's expression turned to one of puzzlement.

"Uh, what's the plan Leo?" Casey asked..

"We-"

That's when the shot went off and echoed around the room, causing the eldest turtle and hockey masked human to freeze. Their eyes searched out frantically to find the orange turtle toddler curled up at the robot's feet.

"NO! MIKEY!"

Casey growled like some kind of bear and leapt towards the robot with the smoking gun. This performance would've probably had someone questioning that old saying that the bark is worse than the bite. Leo would've run to his baby brother but it was at this moment that gunfire exploded in the room, ricocheting off of the walls, floor and ceiling as Leo and Casey weaved their way through the shots, taking out the robots where they stood. When nothing but the smoking metal surrounded the pair, the blue masked turtle sheathed his swords and tripped his way to the turtle tot's side, where he fell to his knees and raised his hand towards his little brother. He didn't want to check for a pulse because he knew-

"They gone Aniki?"

Leo's eyes widened as Mikey sat up and smiled at him before the orange masked toddler ran into his arms, which closed instinctively around the youngster. The eldest turtle just held his baby brother close, muttering words under his breath. Sentences like, 'Don't you EVER scare me like that again' and 'It was foolish to follow me here.'

"Sorry Aniki," Mikey muttered, snuggling into his big brother's plastron and smiling in such a cute manner, that all rage vanished in an instant.

There was, of course, the possibility that said anger might resurface again, but the eldest was just too relieved at the moment. Of course, this was still…

Too easy.

It wasn't but after three seconds of holding his baby brother in his arms that a lone robot rose from the floor, it's arms, stretching and striking out to grab the tot from Leo's arms.

"HEY LET GO OF HIM!" Casey yelled, only to get knocked back by the robot's blaster, which was a second later then pointed at the top of Mikey's skull.

Leo growled and unsheathed his katanas again. He fell into a familiar stance, and for a second, tried the communicator again.

Nothing but static.

"Just hand over the serum Leonardo," Stockman's voice said from the ceiling again.

Leo gritted his teeth, weighing his options until he was able to make a decision. Once again, this was a moment that where, if the younger toddlers had been their old-selves once again, they would have noticed a certain gleam in Leo's eyes but alas, the spark remained a mystery to the frightened, orange banded turtle tot, gulping and crying silently at the pressure of the gun against his skull. He had heard about guns on TV, they killed you. He didn't want to die. He had ever bit of confidence in his older brother, but he didn't want to die.

He didn't want to die…

Leo took the vial from his belt and held it out towards the robot. The said robot, who's leg was sparking from a bash from Casey's hockey stick sparked a few times as the robot set Mikey on the floor, using one hand to press the barrel of the gun into his skull while the other was free to stretch out and take the vial of liquid. Leo grimaced and held the vial tightly as the robot reached for it.

The communicator was dead, Casey was down with an injury to the abdomen, Stockman had his eyes around the room, and the robot standing in his way had a gun to his baby brother's head. If there was one thing that was clear at this moment to Leo, it was that he had two options that ended with them getting out alive.

But only one assured that Stockman would be ruined.

Then, making the most regretful decision of his life. Leo glanced at Mikey and-

Threw the vial to the ground, the glass shattering, the liquid decapitating into the air as a gas. The robot faltered, giving Casey enough time to tackle it while Leo ran to scoop up Mikey.

"YOU INSOLENT TURTLE! MY FORMULA IS GONE!" Stockman's voice shouted.

Leo said nothing to the overhead voice, he simply ran from the room, Casey right behind him. Of course, before they closed the door behind them, they both glanced back, to see a flash of blue light.

Leo stared back curiously, that blue light seemed f

amiliar.

* * *

Hours later, the group all sat in an abandoned alleyway as Casey at least, attempted to retell the story of what had happened. Late into the night, everyone was sleeping soundly. The BattleShell lacking only Leatherhead, who had gone ahead to his own home to scout for possible danger. After all, the Foot had found the turtles' home.

It was exactly 11:56:07 that April woke up. She glanced sideways from where she was laying back in the driver's seat and saw Leo wide awake as ever, staring up at the night sky, though there wasn't much to see.

"You didn't have to do that," April said.

Leo glanced down at the orange masked turtle tot that was curled up in his lap, "Yes I did."

Yes, he had done it. That was his only chance to regain them but he would give it up again. If he hadn't, Mikey would've paid the ultimate price.

"So what are you going to do now?" April asked, watching humorously as Raph and Donny shuffled to the front of the BattleShell, still half asleep, and climbed into Leo's lap, each of them throwing a protective arm around Mikey.

Leo lowered his eyes and ran a soothing hand down each of the toddler's shells before looking through the window and up towards the sky once again, "I guess we just move forward and see where the wind takes us."

* * *

THE END!

…..

…..

…..

…..

…..

…..

….

…..

See ya!

*Cricket chirping*

*Chirp*

*Chirp*

*Chirp*

*Chirp*

*Chirp*

Oh, I'm kidding. ^_^ There's 25 chapters to this story. We're no where near the end. ^_^

Ha! I had you going didn't I?

Well, please review so I can continue like, ASAP.

Oh and I wanted to warn you about the next chapter. We're going to get a break from all this tension. The title for the next chapter will be:

Me and You and A Duck Named Roo (Yes it's relevant to what happens in the chapter ^_^)

Again, please review!

~Moonsetta


	17. Ch 16 A New Age

Hey everyone! It's good to be back. Well, I'm happy for all the reviews and for all of you that sent me encouragement for my speech in AP English class.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I got an A on the assignment. You guys are the best!

Anyways, continuing on with the subject of school, Finals are coming up before our holiday break so I'll be busy completing reviews and taking tests every day, unless there's a snow day.

So I thought I would take advantage of the weekend and type up this chapter and what I deem part 2 of the story. Oh and the answer about that blue light question will be announced at the end of the next chapter.

Ok let's get to it! Oh and unfortunately, this will be a very short chapter. Also, just to inform you, the turtles have now settled in at Leatherhead's.

*Runs after Donny with a net* Get back here! You're mine Donatello!

"Someone get the crazy teenager away from me!"

* * *

"My friend, are you well?" Leatherhead asked the blue masked turtle.

Leo turned away from where he was sitting on the floor by a mattress that the three younger turtles were sleeping on and glanced back at the large crocodile, "I'm just a little tired."

Leatherhead would've normally, simply ended the conversation with a nod but there was something wrong with the blue clad turtle. He _was _tired, but he had been tired before, much more tired and he never moved this slowly. He was also very pale, his skin was strangely a dull, almost shale-like hued green. There were also dark circles below his eyes that peaked out from underneath his mask.

"I must insist you rest," Leatherhead said as he got to his feet and walked to the door of the subway car they were in.

"I'll try to get some rest," Leo said, raising his head to look at Leatherhead before grabbing at his head when his vision began swimming.

"My friend, please, allow me to do an examination, you are not well."

Leo stared down at his little brothers before nodding and getting to his feet, "Ok."

* * *

All through Leatherhead's lair there was silence, all except the click-clack of typing. Leatherhead sat before a large screen, typing away at a huge keyboard. It had taken a few months to gather what he needed to construct such a computer but the success resulted in a computer that rivaled Donatello's. There was just a pattern of the typing echoing in the crocodile's ears as he continued analyzing a blood sample he had taken from Leonardo.

_BEEP!_

Leatherhead's yellow eyes flew upward, stared at the screen and then his face fell in confusion. What was this? Continuing to keep his look of confusion Leatherhead got to his feet and looked to the vial that held the blood sample. He dropped it onto a small slide before examining it with a microscope. What he saw, made his mouth fall open in shock.

The cells under the microscope were vibrating while they continued to multiply. Then came the next shock, the cells, instead of one multiplying into to two, were diving into four!

This only meant one thing.

Leonardo was aging.

* * *

A stream of violent coughs woke up the three young turtle tots from their sleep the following morning.

"Aniki!"

Mikey and Don took a few extra seconds to rub the sleep from their eyes before glancing over to notice Raph standing by Leo, who was bent over beside the mattress, trying to breathe.

Don gasped and ran to the door, "Leatherhead! Something's wrong with Aniki!"

The mutant crocodile rushed into the room, nearly running over the tiny Donatello who stepped back just in time before he could be knocked to the ground. It was a long, torturous few minutes before Leo's coughing quieted and he was able to take deep breaths to revive the amount of oxygen he had lost.

"What's wrong with him Leatherhead?" Donny asked as the large crocodile motioned for Leo to lay on the mattress the turtle tots had slept on the night before.

"Aniki?" Mikey asked as he crawled onto the mattress beside his eldest brother, "Are you ok?"

Leo took two deep breaths and then raised his hand to rub Mikey's head affectionately, "Don't worry buddy, I'll be ok."

"I hate to bear unfortunate news, but that may not be true," Leatherhead said.

"What do you mean?" Raph asked as he climbed onto the mattress beside Mikey.

"Your cells are multiplying rapidly," Leatherhead explained to the confused blue clad turtle, "You are aging."

"What, but why?" Leo asked.

"That antidote," Leatherhead explained, "Dissolved when it hit the air after you shattered it. I hypothesize that you inhaled some of the vapors. If this is true then the process should stop when you reach your full height. In the meantime, your immune system will be weak. I believe you have caught a minor cold, being down here."

"So it was like what happened to us, only backwards," Donny reasoned, remembering his dream.

"I must depart this morning, the Foot have been roaming the city and I must find parts to update my security system if we are to remain hidden from our adversaries," Leatherhead said apologetically.

"That's ok, I'll be fine," Leo said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Yeah, we'll take care of Aniki," Donny said as he joined his brothers by Leo's side.

"Just like how he took care of us," Raph said with a smile.

"Thank you guys, but, I'll be fine," Leo stubbornly said, trying to sit up before three sets of green arms pushed him back down onto the pillow.

"No!" Mikey said decisively.

"You're staying right here!" Donny said.

"And you're going to rest Aniki," Raph finished.

"Don't worry. We'll take care of you," they all said.

Somehow, Leo didn't feel too secure about the day ahead of him.

* * *

All right. Not much happened in this chapter, but now we do know the consequences of Leo smashing that vial. Now what age do you think Leo will be since he's aging?

Now I'll update with a **six page chapter **after Finals are done with at my school.

Please review! Once again, sorry this chapter was so brief.

~Moonsetta


	18. Ch 17 House Call

Ok, there were five quick responses for that last chapter. So here's the six-page chapter I promised.

Oh a quick anecdote before I begin this chapter. I was asked the other day if I had an accent. Well, ok, yes I DO have an accent. What is it? Well, I think a few people I've messaged already know but I think I'll tell everyone anyways. I have a central/northern New Jersey accent. How? I don't know. Ironically, I've never even been to New Jersey in my life. I don't understand how some people detect it because I don't speak in it. I had to explain to that guy that if I talked in my New Jersey accent, then I would never be taken seriously. Yeah, Raph's Brooklyn accent is cool, but for some reason the New Jersey accent has been grouped with the southern accent. It's like, you got one of them, BAM! Ok, you're dumb.

I ha-well I shouldn't really say that. I despise that. I tried talking in it a few times but people stared at me then walked away. So, I try to keep my accent hidden.

I'm sure a lot people can empathize with this. Well anyways, to the story! Oh, and this goes out to Jenihenpen, thanks for the pep talk earlier, this chapter's dedicated to you!

*Author is currently too tired to attempt catching the turtles.*

* * *

"Here's some tea Aniki," Mikey said, holding up a metal tin cup to the pale, blue banded turtle.

The blue clad turtle took the drink with a thankful nod before taking a sip. He held back his grimace and forced a smile onto his face, "Thank you Michelangelo."

The orange banded turtle tot grinned and ran out of the room again, giving Leo the freedom to share his grimace with the surrounding, stale air. Michelangelo had always been the worst when it came to making tea, and apparently this had not changed after their return to their toddler selves. Releasing an exasperated sigh Leo took a second drink of the tea, grimacing once again at the bile taste. He usually preferred his tea bitter and sometimes added a small amount of honey for sweetness but _this _was something else. He nevertheless didn't want to upset his youngest brother and the warmth was helping him to relax. He finished off the cup and set it aside. He stared up at the ceiling for a few seconds before he blew out the candle beside the mattress and turned onto to his side, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the three, thin pillows his brothers had stacked up for him.

* * *

Raph lightly closed the door of the train car, "Aniki's asleep."

"Donny," Mikey said, "Maybe you shouldn't."

The red clad turtle glanced over to see Donatello slipping on a large and thin jacket.

"I have to, Aniki's getting sicker and needs medicine. Our old home should still have some of the medicine he gave to us when we sick."

Unbeknownst to the tots, you always had to get worse before you got better. They took the pale color of Leo's skin as a worsening condition although it wasn't necessarily true.

"You sure one of shouldn't go with you Donny?" Raph asked, tilting his head to the side as his blue eyes caught the shine of the lights.

"I'm sure," Don said proudly, "You two take care of Aniki until I come back."

The others nodded in agreement although Raph glanced at a shadowed corner with some feeling of foreboding.

"Now, I'll be back as soon as I can," the purple clad turtle tot said as he walked out the door, he had spent most of the night up with Leatherhead, asking about his security system so any obstacles that were in way were easily avoided.

* * *

Donatello was an intelligent child, unfortunately, he was a four year old turtle toddler. How he ended up in a tunnel he didn't recognize was beyond his mental capacity. Of course, the cool headed Donatello didn't exactly loss his patience or sanity quite easily so it took him about ten minutes of being lost in the sewer tunnels before the situation really donned (A/N: No pun intended.) on him that he was lost.

This would be a perfect time for Mikey to appear and decree that they weren't lost; that they were simply location-ally challenged.

Don bit his lip in a show of fear or uncertainty as his eyes scanned the darkness, "Of course, Mikey's at Leatherhead's still with Raph and…Aniki."

A look of determination flashed across his eyes, he had to find their old home, there was no debate about it! His big brother needed that medicine! Gathering all of that determination he huffed and continued walking down the tunnels, his right hand raised to trail a light, curved line down the side of the tunnel. The little scurrying of rats and mice didn't bother him and the occasional running of an insect across his outstretched hands was always solved with a flick of his fingers. He continued on like this for a few hours until he began recognizing the familiar sounds and smells of what used to be his home.

Then, in the distance, he recognized the shape of a familiar doorway, although the door was laying on the ground within.

He had finally made it.

At least…

He thought he had, before something below him sucked him down underneath the water.

* * *

Ohhhhhh my! What have I done to poor little, innocent, four year old Donny?

Hmm…*Shuffles through tools of torture.*

Hey my hacksaw! ^_^

O_O

O_o

JK. ^_^ now back to where we left off.

* * *

Don landed into a gushing puddle of water as the rainfall of water continued to fall onto his skull. When he crawled away from the waterfall, elbow deep in the pool, he glanced around to find himself in a dark chasm.

"Ok, time to start panicking again," he thought, rushing to climb to his feet.

The toddler started walking forward until his hands found some kind of door. He quickly searched for a handle of some kind, releasing a relieved breath when his hands pushed down on a lever and the door creaked open. He quickly ran through and shut the door behind him. Ok, now to figure out where he currently was. Although he was sniffling and shaking from fear of being alone he forced himself to find a wall and feel along it, then a part of the wall collapse under his hand and bright lights above flashed on. When he glanced around at the lighted room his eyes shined and he smiled.

* * *

"Do you think Donny's ok?" Mikey asked.

"Of course," Raph said where they were sitting again the outer wall of the train car where Leo was still resting.

"If Aniki finds out, he's gonna be mad," Mikey said, leaning to the side and pressing his ear to the door to try to hear something in the train car.

Why couldn't Leo snore like Raph instead of sleeping quietly? At least then Mikey would know he was ok! Leo had to sleep so silently. Heck, even Don made a little noise when sleeping. Overall, Mikey didn't not like the silence. Normally, the kids would be up and running around because of restlessness but Leatherhead and Leo had told them not to touch anything. Well Leatherhead had, technically, Leo had said not to go within a 20 foot radius of anything. Only Donatello seemed to understand what he was talking about then, but the tots understood that that meant they shouldn't go near anything. Back home they had managed to break objects on the opposite side of their house. They spent the time playing with a few toy cars that Casey had given them before they parted from the humans.

"What are you thinking about?" Raph said, staring over at Mikey, who was just watching the cars sitting between them.

"About the humans," Mikey replied truthfully, "Casey's funny and Donny says April's really smart."

"I don't know," Raph said with a sideways glance.

"Aniki trusts them and he and Casey saved me from that robot."

Mikey smiled, remembering the way that Casey had managed to bang his head against the top of the BattleShell as he climbed into the back when they had gotten topside again, after running away from Stockman's lab.

"Hey Leatherhead said Aniki aged because of the stuff in that vial," Raph said.

Mikey nodded, remembering the scene clearly as Leo smashed the vial at his feet.

"How old do think he is now?"

"He doesn't look much different," Mikey observed, leaning to the side to crack open and peak inside the train car again.

"Does that mean you and Casey will be older too?"

"I don't think so," Mikey said, closing the door and turning back to his red banded brother, "Aniki smashed it right at his feet, Casey and I weren't close enough to inhale any va-well whatever it is they're called."

"Vapors?"

"Where'd you learn that word?"

"Leatherhead," Raph said with a smile.

"Well, we were too far away. Besides, I already got two annoying older brothers, I don't need two even more annoying little brothers."

"Hey!"

That's when the front door opened and the toddler turtles jumped to their feet, half in hope that it was Donatello and half in fear of it being Leatherhead.

"Guys!" a familiar voice yelled as he ran into their home.

"Donny!"

The red and orange masked turtles ran forward to greet their purple masked and dripping brother with a tight hug.

"Why are you wet?" Raph demanded, his hands already pulling off the dripping jacket.

"I'll tell you guys later."

Raph turned to his youngest brother, "Mikey go get a towel."

The orange masked turtle shot off towards a hook on the wall where a large brown towel was hanging. He yanked it down, almost pulling out the hook it was hung on. He ran back and handed the towel to Donatello, who began drying off, thanking fate that the towel hadn't seemed to be used previously.

"Thanks Mikey," Don said, handing him back the towel.

The orange clad turtle just stared at the received damp cloth like he wasn't sure what to do with it.

"Did you get the medicine?" Raph asked.

"Yep," Donny said, "Now come on, let's give it to Aniki."

"Then he'll get all better right?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah, we always got better after taking it."

After folding up the towel, an unusual characteristic Mikey had developed, and setting it on a table nearby, the three tots made their way into the dark train car.

* * *

"Yes?" a sudden voice from within asked.

The three tots jumped and then looked at each other as Leo sat up from the mattress and lit the candle once again.

The young turtles just stared at each other with the same unspoken question, "How does he do that!"

"Are you three ok?" Leo asked, his voice weak and scratchy.

"Uh Leatherhead told us that this would help you get better," Donny said, walking up to Leo and presenting the bottle to him.

Leo raised an eye ridge at the bottle, it was cheap brand of cold medicine. He recognized that it was same kind he gave to the others when they had gotten sick. Although Donatello wouldn't have walked back to their old home to get it. After all, the bottle back home had been half used and this one was almost full. Although, Leo had never seen Leatherhead sick he supposed the mutant crocodile DID get sick occasionally and if the genius, Leatherhead said for him to take it well…who was he to say no.

"Wait a minute, I thought Leatherhead left earlier," Leo said, raising a suspicious gaze at the turtle toddlers.

"He did," Raph said, "But he came by a few minutes ago. We told him you weren't much better so he told us to give you this."

"Well ok," Leo said, taking a small amount from the bottle.

The only thing he didn't like was that the medicine made him drowsy. He'd have to advise that Leatherhead try to get another brand this medicine was awfully thin and watery. Hmm…well his brain started to feel as numb as the bad taste in his throat so he handed the bottle back to Donatello, who was smiling widely along with the others.

"Arigato," Leo whispered before leaning back and closing his eyes.

"Ie ie ," Mikey mumbled as he blew out the candle.

Leo smiled before he felt his mind slip back into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Now when he wakes up he'll be all better," Mikey said.

"He'll be asleep for a long time, come on I want to show you guys what I found," Donny said, grabbing onto his brothers' arms and dragging them out of Leatherhead's home, carefully maneuvering around the sensors Leatherhead had set up.

"Donny, where are we going?" Raph and Mikey asked in unison.

"Just wait and you'll see."

It was a short and wet ten minutes later that the tots found themselves in a brightly lit underground empty room.

"Wow, how'd you find this place?" Mikey said, looking around at the brick walls and walking up to a piece of broken down machinery in the corner.

"I kind of dropped in," Donny said, "I would've been trapped down here if wasn't for the ladder that we used to climb down here. I ended up falling in through a waterfall out there," he explained pointing towards the large room's single door.

Raph opened it up and saw the rancid waterfall, quickly shutting the door as some tried to splash onto him and into the room.

"So what are we going to do with this place?" Mikey asked.

"It'll be our new home," Donny said, spreading his arms in the air with glee, "We lost our old one to those Foot ninja and Aniki said he was going to find us a new one."

"We can fix this place up so Aniki doesn't have to," Raph said with a smile.

"Then let's do it!" Mikey shouted as he jumped around excitedly.

"Yeah, let's get started," Donny said, "Aniki will be asleep for a few more hours and Leatherhead's going to be gone until later tonight."

So that's how, minutes later, the toddler turtle found themselves scouring the sewers for anything they could use. Old boxes became tables, hard crates became stools, old torn up clothes and blankets were hung up to dry, cans were used to store and cool clean water for drinking and they used some crates for carrying in old broken toys they could play with. When Raph and Mikey carried in some pipes and wooden boards, Don took them and built a kind of lopsided bookshelf and placed a few, slightly water damaged books on it.

When a few hours had passed Don called a halt to the work and said that they should get back to Leatherhead's before Aniki woke up or the mutant crocodile returned.

"But can't we fix it up more? I was going to paint the walls," Mikey said, holding a an old and mostly washed out set of paints and a toothbrush, since he couldn't find a paint brush.

"Come on," Don said stoutly, "Aniki will be up soon and Leatherhead may come home to update his security system early."

They all sighed at the feelings of disappointment washing over them.

"Don't worry Mikey," Raph said, slinging an arm over his youngest brother's shoulders, "We'll come back tomorrow and fix it up more. We can work on it every day until it's done and then we can surprise Aniki."

"Yay! A surprise!" Mikey said as he clapped.

The three turtle tots turned to head for the ladder that stood through an opening on the opposite side of the room from the door with the waterfall behind it when…

"So this is where you have been hiding."

* * *

Oh! I wonder who it is? Oh wait I already know and you don't. HA! HA!

O_O I was joking. I promised a six page chapter and at this point it's only five. Now moving on. Let's see who it is!

* * *

"AH!" the three tots yelled as a shadow fell over them and they were snatched up from the ground.

They all trembled until Donny found the courage to open his eyes and gasped, "Leatherhead!"

Raph and Mikey opened their eyes and sighed in relief at the sight of their friend.

"Please, explain what you are doing down here my friends," Leatherhead asked as he set the turtles back on the ground.

"This is going to be our new home!" Mikey said with an excited yell.

"Yeah we're going to fix it up as a surprise for our brother," Don explained, "We can get it done while Aniki rests and then he won't have to do any work."

"Ah but my friends, you will need much more accommodations before this place can be deemed livable," Leatherhead explained.

"We know it'll take a long time," Donny explained.

"But we want to do this for our big brother," Raph added.

"Very well then…allow me to be of assistance," Leatherhead said with a smile.

"How did you know we were here?" Mikey asked.

The large mutant crocodile pointed to a small gray object on the back of Donatello's shell, "I had a feeling you might run off, children often do. I have been watching over all of you."

"Won't Aniki be up soon? We should go back," Don said.

"Leonardo will sleep for a few more hours, according to that cold medicine you gave him although the affects might vary considering it was watered down."

After this sentence he glanced pointedly at Donatello, who rubbed his head sheepishly, "Well Aniki might have recognized it if it was only half full."

"Come along little ones, I left a note back at my home explaining that I was watching over you three while you played."

"But we're not playing, we're working," Mikey said confidently, jutting out his chest while putting his hands on his hips.

"Yes, you are," Leatherhead said with a smile.

Then they all jumped at another voice from the hole where the ladder was," Is this the place?"

"That's what Leatherhead told me-CASEY LOOK OUT!"

"Huh. AHHH!"

_Thump!_

"Uh, babe, I found it and them."

"For a vigilante, you're really a klutz," said April as she climbed down the ladder.

"APRIL!" Donny yelled and ran to hug the red headed human, who almost fell back in shock.

"FUNNY MAN! I mean CASEY!" Mikey cheered and ran over to the tall human, begging to be picked up.

"I assumed what you three were doing and-" Leatherhead was cut off.

"Called in reinforcements!" Mikey shouted in glee as he climbed up onto Casey's shoulders, stood up and threw his arms up in the air to attempt to touch the ceiling.

An old habit of his was discovered as Mikey stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth to try to reach the ceiling. Casey laughed and stood on his toes, smiling as the orange banded turtle cried out in victory. April on the other hand was so relieved that the turtle toddlers finally seemed to accept them as family. Also, she could finally quell her motherish or feminine instincts, slightly at least. She pulled the purple clad turtle close and started loading him down with cuddles and kisses. Donny responded by laughing. The laughter gave Casey an idea, he swung Mikey down into his arms and started ticking him. In response, Mikey roared with laughter.

Leatherhead watched this all with a certain self-doubting look. He applauded the humans, and even more he applauded Leonardo, who had taken care of them by himself most days.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Raph said as he stepped in the middle of the scene, "Let's go!"

"We brought some stuff that could help," Casey said.

It became quite a battle to get furniture down the later and into the home but with Leatherhead's strength this became highly possible. Hours later, all seemed to be in order. The tots though, agreed that they were missing a few things. There were no beds. Leatherhead responded to this by saying they could use the mattress he had lent them at his home. The turtles also decreed that there wasn't a space marked off for a 'forbidden room'.

This made the two humans and crocodile look at them questioningly.

"What's a forbidden room?" Casey asked and got whacked on the head with a long plastic pole by Donny, "You uncompleted baffling lacking intelligence organism, it's a room no one but Aniki can go into."

"What did he just call me?" Casey asked.

Leatherhead and April chuckled while Raph and Mikey shrugged their shoulders at one another in hopeless understanding.

"You mean the dojo?" April guessed.

It would make sense, four-year-olds and sharp, pointy objects didn't mix well.

"Aniki just called it 'forbidden'," Raph said with a shrug.

"Well, there'll be a few more challenges here, but you guys have some food stored in here now and clean running water. Hot and cold even," April said point over to a small dent in the floor were two closed off pipes were dripping a bit of water into the hallowed out basin there.

"Thanks for helping guys!" Donny said.

When April reached down to scoop up Donny, he unfortunately still had the long pole in his hand, which ended up whacking Casey again.

"Hey! Alright! That's it! Come here you!"

Casey grabbed Donny from April's arms and began tickling him as April smiled and turned to pick up Raph and Mikey. Both stiffened before relaxing, although Raphael didn't allow himself to relax much, he _was _still wary of humans; Even _if _they were friends with his older brother.

Obviously, when it came to humans, Raphael still had a lot of trust to be earned.

"So who's going to go get Leo?" Casey asked as Donny began regaining his lost breath.

"I will!" all three tots shouted at once.

They all started a match why they should go and the other two should stay. Finally though, Mikey and Donny found themselves unable to speak after Raph said that they couldn't go because he said so and they had to listen to him since they were his 'little brothers' They pouted for a few minutes after Raph left until April decreed that they should all find hiding spots behind random pieces of furniture. The tots were so excited to jump out and say surprise that they forgot about their disappointment about not being able to fetch their oldest brother.

* * *

It was an agonizing ten minutes later that a small turtle ran into the room and hid behind one of the wooden tables Casey had sanded down for them to use. A voice followed as a large form climbed down the ladder and walked into the room.

"Raph where did you go? Raph?"

A cough followed making the form mutter, "I can't believe that I slept fort ten hours!"

"Raph? Where did you go?"

When the form stood in the middle of the room, the lights flashed on and everyone jumped from their hiding places at Leo with cries of, "SURPRISE!"

The blue clad turtle leapt back in shock and ended up almost falling, just managing to catch himself before plummeting onto the stones below, of course this was all for naught when he was tackled by three blurs. One orange, one red and one purple.

"SURPRISE ANIKI!"

All Leo could do was stare in shock at the room around him and at the three tots bouncing around him in joy.

* * *

"You guys did all this?" Leo asked, staring wide eyed around the room.

"Oh, it was their idea," Casey said, pointing to the three turtle tots, who were standing a few feet from them

Leo felt a large smile grow across his face before he bent down and scooped them up. He pulled them close and allowed them to snuggle into his plastron before he bent and nuzzled their heads with his beak.

"You three are the best little brothers in the world, thank you all."

"We wanted to help Aniki," Mikey said with a smile.

Leo shook his head and smiled affectionately before walking over to an old, torn up couch that Casey had brought down and settling down with the three toddlers in his lap.

"Hey Leo?"

"Yes Casey?" Leo asked, looking up from his little brothers.

"So how old are-OW!"

Casey was cut off as April grabbed his ear and began pulling him towards the exit, "Come on, we've over stayed our welcome. Bye guys!"

"Bye April!" they all shouted after the humans.

"Leatherhead?" Leo asked, "I'm am curious, it's probably better I don't know but-"

Leatherhead smiled, "It is the nature of a scientist's mind to question everything. Now, your animal species, the red eared slider, technically can grow until death while your human side averagely reaches maturity at the age of 25. I ran the tests while you were sleeping. Congratulations, you're 29."

"Great, so I'm nearly middle-aged?" Leo asked with irritation dripping from his voice.

Leatherhead chuckled, "Hardly my friend, though now your age surpasses mine."

"Great," Leo said while rolling his eyes.

"Try not to let it get to you my friend," Leatherhead said humorously, "I will be on my way. Call me if you need any help. I will drop off that mattress later tonight."

"Thank you Leatherhead, for everything," Leo said with a bow of his head.

Leatherhead waved away the praise and exited the turtles' new home.

Leo sighed in relief and turned back to his little brothers in his lap but before anyone could utter a word, a bright light filled the room. Leo looked back up at the center of the room to see a familiar face.

"Renet?" he asked in shock.

"Leo! Oh my, what happened to-"

Leo shook his head, "It's a long story."

"Leo, it's terrible, someone stole the Time Scepter!"

_

* * *

_

Ding! Ding! Ding!

We have our winner:

Arighter

Congratulations! You've won the one-shot gift. I'll try to work on it after I finish this story. Alright, 7 chapters left.

Anyways, should all the turtles be returned their 16 year old selves in the end or not? This question will be in a poll on my profile. Make sure to vote! ^_^

Oh and review please.

~Moonsetta


	19. Ch 18 Raindrop

Hey everyone. Well, they called a snow day today, so I'm off of school, and have to be prepared to take missed Finals in January *Sigh*. Anyways, since this is a short chapter, at least shorter than the last, I decided to update again today.

Ok, this chapter goes out to Who. For pretty much just being an awesome author and reader. And also for that cheer, truthfully I was thinking about all of my reviews as I went up to give that speech. Thanks again!

Anyways, in this chapter, you can expect fluffiness and cute turtle tots.

Oh

Warning: *Sly smile* Prepare your parachutes

I do not own the **Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles** but the **Teenage Mutant Ninja Tarantulas **are mine! (I warn you. You really don't want to know. ^_^")

Moving on…To the chapter!

* * *

"So let me get this strait," April said into her shell cell, "We can't track Stockman because he's traveling through time?"

A sigh on the other end made the red head's eyes narrow in slight annoyance.

"No, we can track him, IF he comes to our time. Rennet could explain it better."

"Oh no Leo, I'm not getting near her again. Last time she sent me to your place. Then you guys came back looking like you'd barely survived the Jurassic era."

"Yeah, well, there's a story behind that," Leo replied.

This time April sighed before her thoughts drifted to the side, "How are the kids?"

"All asleep, Leatherhead dropped off the mattress for us to use until we can get actual beds."

"That's good. Did he head home?"

"Yeah and so did Rennet after 10 minutes. My brothers are scared of her now. She wouldn't stop smothering them."

"Hmm I wonder why?" April said in a high voice.

"Are you hinting at something?"

"Nothing Grandpa!" she muttered.

"What was that!"

"Oh Leo, I'm joking, a lot has happened and I-well, how are you doing?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, how do you feel?"

"Stressed. Old. Ill. Crazy. And to top it all off, selfish."

"Selfish? Leo, what for?"

Another sigh came from the phone, "It's just, everyone pooled to get this new home finished for us and-"

"And what?"

"And I spent that time sleeping," this comment was transferred before a stream of coughing followed.

"Leo, that is not selfish!" April yelled, "You were sick. In fact, you still sound sick. Why aren't you in bed like your brothers?"

"April, of all times, it's impossible for me to sleep right now."

"And the reason is?"

"What if Stockman appears right in the middle of our home at any moment? I can't sleep! I'm too worried!"

April sighed again, "Look Leo, get some sleep. If Stockman wanted to kill you all, with this, Time Scepter, then he probably would've already done it. It's no wonder we couldn't track him."

A deep breath flowed over the line, "Maybe you're right. But I can't help but worry."

A loose cough followed.

"Get to bed Leo. I'm going to go through the old junk stored in my basement and see if I can find some old kitchen appliances. Ok?"

"Yeah. Thank you April. You're very kind."

"It's no problem Leo. You should know that by now. I'll see you early in the morning before sunrise. Got it?"

"Sure. Thank you again. Goodbye."

"Bye."

Leo hung up the phone on his end, tucking the shell cell into his belt again before taking a deep breath in a pathetic attempt to calm himself down. Ok, attempt 1, fail.

He tried counting the stones making up the floor and the walls. Attempt 2, fail. Still worried.

He tried simply paying attention to the emptiness of the surrounding silence.

"Aniki?"

Attempt 3, fail.

The tired and weary blue masked turtle turned to the questioning voice. His eyes rested on the form of his immediate younger brother standing by the far end of the couch he was currently sitting on. The cushions' stuffing had just barely managed to be held in with duct tape in the old, ripped up thing.

"Yes Raphael?"

"I can't sleep."

Leo shot him a sympathetic smile, "You too, huh?"

The red banded turtle tot nodded before Leo patted the space next to him and the toddler ran over to pull himself up onto the couch, which took much effort to accomplish. Once Raph had managed to pull himself up onto the couch, Leo pulled the tot into his lap and nuzzled his head with his beak as he always had. These were the moments he let his paternal side overwhelm his platonic side.

"Aniki?"

"Hm?"

"Uh, I just wanted to ask you about…" the tot's voice fell silent.

"What is it?"

Raph pointed to the swords on Leo's shell, "You said you'd teach me. Back at the house."

This statement made Leo recall memories of his-well their Master and father. Now that the eldest was thinking of it, wouldn't of Splinter only been a few years old when he found them? He had to execute this right. 2 and 1 weren't much of an age difference while 4 and 29 were. Then again, Splinter had been a rat. Domesticated rats usually only lived for two years, while red eared sliders could live for a good 70+ years. Did that make any difference?

Leo abandoned his train of thought and took a deep and unsettling breath before glancing down at his little brother again. He smiled affectionately and rubbed the toddler's head, who quaintly closed his eyes as the large hand pressed down on his skull softly.

"Aniki?" Raph asked again, his curiosity shining in his eyes as he opened them and looked up at his big brother.

"We'll start in the morning, I promise."

"What about Donny and Mikey?"

"All of you will learn together," Leo said simply and stoutly so there was no room for debate.

It was then that a strange look came over Raph's face and Leo's smile fell to a frown, "What's wrong Raphael?"

The red clad tot pushed Leo's hand off his head and then reached for it, "You're cold," he commented, resting his incredibly tiny hands in Leo's one, "You're still sick. You should be resting."

"I will," Leo said, scooping up the young turtle and setting him on the floor before shooing him off to bed. He then returned to the living room where he fell onto the old couch and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Donny awoke the next morning to find that his immediate older brother was still asleep to his right. Apparently he was having some kind of weird dream, for he was randomly waving his arms up and down. The purple clad turtle shook his head while rolling his eyes before reaching over and poking Raph in the forehead.

"On-guard!" Raph yelled as he shot up, lashing out with an imaginary, dream sword.

Donny giggled as Raph blushed

"Oh, be quiet!" Raph said with a pout and a blush.

Donny continued shaking his head and giggling before he turned over to wake up Mikey, only to find that his little brother wasn't there.

"Hey, did you hear Mikey leave?" Don asked Raph.

"No," Raph said with a yawn, "Maybe he's-"

Raph's response was cut off by a scream and then a yell.

"GUYS HELP! ANIKI ISN'T BREATHING!"

* * *

Oh, what have I done now?

Hmmm….

Would you hate me if I ended it here?

-_- *Readers growl*

Ok, just wondering.

* * *

They had only a moment to meet each other's eyes before both the purple and red banded turtle tots were in the main room of their new home. Leo was sprawled across the floor, and his skin was slightly blue, which made the red scratches on his body stand out as well as the blood running from the wounds. Donny and Raph fell to his side, Donny reaching out to feel for a pulse = like he had seen people on TV do. Of course, he was inches for, the vain when something knocked the turtles back and on to their shells. When they looked back up they gasped and their eyes widened in fear.

A Foot Tech Ninja was now standing over Leo, his foot on the eldest's throat.

"HEY! GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Raph yelled, jumping to his feet and growling fiercely.

The ninja only took out one of his swords and made a slice on Leo's arm. This sent Raph into a rage. He ran forward and knocked the ninja's feet out from underneath him, relieving the pressure on Leo's throat

"How did he find us?" Donny said, running to Leo's side with Mikey while Raph bravely stood up to the ninja. This moment of clarity for Don though was short lived when Raph went crashing into the wall near them and then fell limply to the floor, unconscious and only inches from Leo.

"RAPHIE!"

A chuckling came from the Foot Tech as he approached the two conscious turtles redirected the tots' attention to the enemy. Donny turned to look at Raph then began trying to wake up Leo. Unfortunately, he had to abandon this attempt when the Foot ninja charged and lashed out with his sword at the two youngest. Don grabbed Mikey's hand and turned to run, but this was in vain as the Foot soldier reached out and scooped them up.

"NO!"

"LET US GO!"

"HELP!

"SOMEBODY HELP!"

The Foot ninja simply laughed at the frightened toddlers, as Mikey and Donny struggled to escape their captor. If anyone else had been in that room, their sympathy would've gone out to the toddlers, who were crying their little hearts out for a hero.

* * *

HA! HA! Did you like that chapter? Now, I know there's probably questions, ask them and I'll be sure to answer them in the next chapter.

Let's see, it's a pretty safe bet Mikey and Donny are going to be hauled away and how dare that Foot ninja. First he chokes Leo, then he throws four-year-old, innocent, completely adorable Raph against the stone wall, then he just whisks a crying Donny and Mikey away from their home.

Hmm…I can already predict his future. He is going to get beaten by whatever hard/sharp objects readers can get their hands on.

Well, hope you liked the chapter. Please review! ^_^ There's only 6 chapters to go.

~Moonsetta


	20. Ch 19 Platonic

*Laughs as bluepickles92 and Laughter's Tears beat Foot Tech Ninja with sword and giant wooden mallet*

Ok, now that we have had a small streak of vengeance on the ninja, we can continue on with the story. Now this is going to be very short but I'll update with a very long chapter in a few days. As long as I get at least some reviews for this chapter.

Ok, this chapter goes out to bluepickles92 and Laughter's Tears for beating up that Foot Tech Ninja.

Warning: AHHH! I'm kidding there's no cliffhanger.

Randomly begins singing: All I want for Christmas is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

* * *

Shapes began standing out as he forced his eyes open. He stared intently at the shapes, trying to make sense of them. They were familiar somehow. He was certain he knew them but it this moment he felt fuzziness cloud his mind and a hazy milky white color fog over half of his vision. He reached out towards an unmoving form in front of him and grasped at something hard. He pushed himself to his feet and gripped the object in his hand very tightly. He glanced up at screaming voices, although he couldn't exactly hear the cries.

Then, the haze fogged over his mind and he remembered.

_The blades met in a flurry of sparks. Then a shadow loomed behind him. The ninja, the blade, up and down goes the sword._

_Up and down…_

_Move forward._

_Black shape, two green, struggling shapes._

Then everything cleared. Raph found himself behind the Foot tech ninja, who was having too much fun enjoying Mikey's and Donny's cries to pay attention. The red banded turtle also found one's of Leo's swords in his hand.

_Up and down…_

He remembered and brought the sword up, the blade almost reached the ninja's shoulder. He drew the blade back then sent it forward. The ninja fell and the sword, with a small amount of blood on the tip, clattered to the ground.

Mikey and Donny scrambled out from underneath the Foot ninja and stared at their brother with a look somewhere among amazement, bewilderment, respect and fear.

It was then a gasp rang out through their home. The turtles turned and all yelled at once.

"April!"

* * *

Two hours later, both April and Casey were sitting on the couch and holding Mikey and Donny in their laps while the tots slumbered while battling their dreams.

"How do you think they found the place?" April asked in a whisper.

"Maybe he fell in," Casey suggested, "Like I did."

April frowned in uncertainty and said, "A _ninja _Casey?"

"Yeah, you're probably right."

April breathed a heavy sigh and then transferred the purple clad ninja into Casey's lap beside the sleeping and mumbling Michelangelo, "I'm going to go check on Leo and Raph."

Casey nodded and watched the two turtles squirm from nightmares in his lap before rubbing their shells in a comforting matter.

* * *

When April entered the 2nd largest of the empty rooms of the what was deemed a 'house' she froze in surprise but she was suddenly torn between yelling when she realized that Leo was up and awing at the scene. The eldest turtles had his red banded brother in his arms, the little tot had his head against Leo's plastron, sleeping soundly and so amazingly cute, had his little thumb stuck in his mouth.

April went to speak up when Leo shushed her and then got up from the mattress before tucking his young brother within the blankets. The blue clad turtle motioned to the doorway, since the place, like their previous home, lacked doors to separate the rooms. Once a fair distance from he door, Leo turned to April.

"What happened, all I understood was ninja and danger from Raphael's babbling before he broke down and I suppose I'm injured for a reason."

April took a deep breath, "It was a Foot Tech Ninja."

"What! They've found this place!"

April reached out and put, what she hoped, was a comforting hand on Leo's shoulder, although this was difficult, considering he was much taller than her now. She had to remember he was older now. Although the only thing that had seemed to change was his height. But what a change it was!

"Leo listen, he was a lone scout. We've searched the surrounding tunnels. He was alone and had no way to contact any other Foot ninja."

"But what about him?" Leo asked worriedly, and then slapped a hand over his mouth when his voice rose to a very high pitch. He didn't want to wake Raph up.

Then, the question that had been at the back of his mind sprang onto his tongue "Donny? Mikey?"

"They're fine," April said calmingly, "They're in the living room with Casey," she explained, pointing down what the assumed was a tunnel that worked as a hallway that connected the main room to the four smaller rooms.

"As for the ninja, we're sorry, I came in just in time to see Raph using one of your swords on the ninja."

Leo's eyes grew wide. A four year old, killing with a blade in his hands? It wasn't possible, this couldn't be. His shock must have shone more brightly than a neon sign because April was quick to defuse his worry.

"Calm down Leo, Raph didn't," April soothed, "He simply knocked the guy out. When the ninja came to he tried to escape. Casey went after him at first and apparently no one warned him about that drop in the southwest tunnel."

"But, no one could survive that fall," Leo stated.

"We used some climbing ropes and found him, well, what's left of him anyways. He isn't going to tell anyone Leo, he doesn't have the mouth to or even arms to write it out. You guys are safe, we tried to do what we could, but he was already a jigsaw puzzle."

Leo breathed a sigh of relief and then felt a shiver run down his spine.

"But how did he find us?" Leo asked.

April opened her mouth when one of the tots came bustling into the hallway, "ANIKI!"

Leo bent down, further than he normally had before and caught the speeding purple and green blur with a quaint whisper of, "Donatello…"

"I'm sorry Aniki!" he sobbed as he was held tightly.

"Sorry for what?"

"This," April responded, holding up what Leo recognized as the medicine bottle his younger brothers had given him.

Needless to say, he was now confused, "What does that have to do with everything that happened?"

"You little brother here," April said, motioning to Don, "Went back to your old home, which the Foot Tech Ninja was searching to try to find any trace of where we disappeared to. The ninja saw Donny and followed him back to Leatherhead's, then to here. Leatherhead came by some time ago and explained that that was probably what happened but I didn't want to believe it."

Leo glanced down at the purple clad tot in his arms and frowned at the sniffling and murmured apologies. He simply held the tot tightly and nuzzled his head affectionately.

"Shh," he cooed quietly, moving back and leaning against the wall, "It's ok. We're all safe. Shh…"

"Leo?" April asked, expecting the eldest turtle to at least say something to the purple clad turtle.

"He's four April," Leo said as an explanation, "I'll talk to him later, after he's calmed down, but I think he's learned his lesson."

* * *

Sorry, but I warned you it was short. Ok, now I'll be making the final decision about what ultimately happens to them. Do Raph, Donny and Mikey stay turtle tots? Do all of the turtles get turned back into 16 year olds?

Now, for those of you that voted on my poll on my profile, the winning decision right now is Surprise Me, which I will base on a drawing of three cards, whichever I pick is the ending you get. I have plans for a sad ending, a bittersweet one and a happy one, but which choice on the polls covers which ending I won't tell you.

I am not doing all three of them though. I would, but I have other stories to work on. So, make sure those last minute votes get in quickly, oh and if you want to vote on the poll and leave a vote in a review I'll count it as two votes, and you can vote more than once, but only one vote per review, meaning if you leave a second review with another vote, I'll count it.

Everyone got it?

Good.

Make sure you review, and vote. The rest of the chapters are made via your decision.

REVIEW PLEASE!

~Moonsetta


	21. Ch 20 Time

The votes are IN! And the results-

All turtles 16!

This one won overwhelmingly, BUT whether this is the bittersweet, sad or happy ending I won't tell. ^_^ For all you know I'll turn them all 16 again and then BAM! They all burn up in a humongous explosion! Oh, that would be so ironic. Don't you just love ironic endings? Maybe I should end it that way.

Ok, all that future planning aside, about the chapter, it's almost all flashbacks, the first flashbacks are bolded while the second flashbacks are italicized. You'll understand the difference in them. Make sure you pay attention to the years above each one. Sorry if anyone gets confused but this was the way I wanted to map out this time skip.

Oh, and I don't care if I get yelled at for saying this:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

**

* * *

**

Year: 5

"**No! Boys! Stay away from that electrical wire!" Splinter called out, rushing forward and grabbing up his four mutant turtle children.**

"**Sorry father," the all mumbled, their blue, red, purple and orange heads bowed in shame.**

**The elderly gray rat shook his head and smiled ruefully, "Come my sons, let us return home and enjoy the holiday. Perhaps Santa will come early tonight."**

"**Yeah, if Mikey stops eating the cookies," Don said as he and his family made their way back to their home. **

"**I was hungry," Mikey protested, turning his begging, baby-like wide eyes on all of the faces that were staring back at him. **

**He secretly smiled at the slumped shoulders and fallen frowns. He loved that power he possessed!**

"**It's ok Mikey," Leo said, laying an arm over the youngest turtle's shoulders, "We'll make more cookies."**

**A smirk suddenly spread across Donny's face, "And Raph can wear that pretty pink apron we found."**

"**NO!" Raph said loudly and stepped behind Leo and Mikey to keep away from Don.**

**The others laughed before a call from their father sent the tots scrambling after their father and into their warm home.**

_

* * *

_

Year: 5

"_What happened?" Raph said as he fell to his knees down beside a whimpering Mikey._

"_He slipped on the ice and hurt his leg,, "Don explained, "We need to get him back home."_

_Mikey sniffed and then gasped as he started to rise in the air. He opened his eyes just to see that his older, red banded brother was holding him in his arms._

"_Raphie?"_

"_Don't worry Mikey," Raph said with a smile, "We'll get you home, Aniki will fix it, and make us all hot chocolate."_

_The youngest turtles' blue eyes widened and he smiled at the thought of a night of hot cocoa as they all sat around the Christmas tree in the living room. _

_It had been about six months since they had found and fixed up their newest home. And the three toddlers were proud to say that they had done it all for their older brother. _

_When they entered the lair they found themselves rushed into the room, by a very frantic older brother._

"_Where have you three been? How did Mikey get hurt? Never mind, sit him on the couch. Donny, go get the first aid kit. Do you guys know how cold it has gotten since this morning? There's six inches of snow up there!…"_

_And this continued on until the blue banded, older turtle became completely focused on the rusty brown red cut on Michelangelo's leg. _

_When the eldest was finished wrapping it up he breathed a calming sigh, stared back at his other little brothers and then smiled a smile half way to relief and half way to insanity before he spoke, "How does some hot cocoa sound?"_

"_YAY!" the tots cheered._

**

* * *

**

Year: 8

**There was something to be said as the children stared at one another, their eyes flashing with anger and determination. This anger was not pinpointed at one another, only their eyes. They would do better than one another. **

**As Leo and Raph breathed heavily from their sparring match Splinter smiled in amusement. It appeared that they had found rivals in one another. Although, hate is never a good thing to breed, determination is. With one out shining the other, that other would press harder to overcome him. This would push the two into new areas, their determination would flare and burn brightly. Despite conflict and anger, Splinter knew that having a rival was important, and that because of that the red and blue masked turtle would strive to overcome not only each other, but themselves as well. A permanent rival meant a permanent challenge and an advancement in growth.**

**It was clear, Splinter decided as he looked from the sparring Raphael and Leonardo and then to the quietly chattering Donatello and Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael had become the eldest, they would grow more rapidly than the innocent orange and purple masked turtle tots.**

_

* * *

_

Year: 8

"_I had the Kusari Gama first," Don yelled as he yanked on the chained weapon._

"_No, I did!" Mikey yelled back, tugging the weapon towards him as well. _

_A few feet from them Leo looked up from where he had previously been meditating and shook his head, thankfully he had taken the Kama, the sickle-like blade end, off before letting the young ones choose which weapon they wanted to practice with.. Glancing at the recently cleaned dojo he allowed his thoughts to drift to the past. It had been a long time, three years…_

_He glanced down at his hands, the skin so much rougher than he remembered, a slight pain in neck further reminded him that he had probably been sitting still too long. _

_He sighed at the inevitable and continued his thoughts into the past. Over the years, Rennet, via Lord Simultaneous' powers, kept them up to date on Stockman's whereabouts, for a genius that always messed up somehow, he had kept himself away for a long time, but then again…_

_He DID have the time scepter so he could map a millennia in a second, whatever he chose. Truthfully, it did all seem beyond someone like Stockman to control and initiate the timeline with such success. _(A/N: This is a clue, keep it in mind)

"_An- I mean, Sensei?" a calm, confident voice asked._

_Leo turned to find his red clad brother staring up at him. Behind him, Leo noticed that Donatello had overcome Mikey and claimed the Kusari Gama, but he also noticed that the sais Raph usually trained with were still sitting among the other weapons on the rack on the fall wall of the dojo._

"_Is something wrong Raphael?" Leo asked, "Why aren't you practicing with your sais?"_

_For a minute the tot seemed somewhat shy, which was overall strange, the shyness and innocence of them all had slowly began melting away as they grew, leaving way for growth and intelligence._

_It seemed that Raph took a minute to gather his courage before standing strait and saying stoutly, "I want to practice with a different weapon Sensei."_

_The eldest was now confused, there were numerous weapons on the far wall, why had Raphael come over to him?_

"_What weapon do you wish to practice with?" Leo asked, since he had already discovered that the direct approach often received a direct answer from the younger turtles._

_Here, the red banded turtle glanced at the floor, his shy edge returning. This was stranger still as he twisting his foot against the stones but then his eyes widened and he forced his foot to remain still. Remembering what his older brother had said when he had did that before. He never forgot the tone of voice Leo had used when he reprimanded him._

"_Raphael?"_

_Raph shook his head and stood up strait, "I want to learn how to use the twin katana. Like you."_

**

* * *

**

Year: 12

"**What are you looking at sensei?" Leo asked as he walked to the edge of the rooftop and stared down at the empty street below them like his father had been doing for the past few minutes.**

**The elderly rat breathed deeply and smiled, "It is nothing Leonardo. Where are your brothers?"**

**The blue banded turtle opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a cry of, "GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE TWERP!" **

**With that the two turned to see an orange and green blur and then a red and green blur speed past them. **

**Leo sighed, "Excuse me sensei, looks like I have to separate them…again."**

**With that, the blue banded turtle sped off after his younger brothers. **

**Back at the quiet, lone rooftop, Splinter glanced down at the street again. For some strange reason, he felt…something. He really couldn't explain it to himself, just a strange, strange feeling. He stopped his thoughts and shook them away. He had sons to look after.**

_

* * *

_

Year: 12

"_Please Aniki?" Mikey begged._

"_Mikey, you're much too old for this," Leo said, kneeling down and allowing his little brother to climb onto his shell._

"_Let's go!" Mikey cheered._

"_Wait up guys!" Don yelled, running up behind them, holding some kind of circuit board in his hands, "You'll never believe it, I found a CV-398 tri-by passer!_

"_Fascinating brainiac," Raph said, walking up behind his intelligent brother where they stood on the rooftop._

"_Come along my students," Leo said, turning to the alleyway a few buildings over, "We need to get home before the Foot send out their patrol this way."_

"_Right sensei," Don and Raph chorused as they followed their teacher and older brother across the rooftops._

* * *

Leo opened his eyes from his dream, or well…dreams, he hypothesized and sat up on his futon. He got to his feet and stretched to loosen his tight muscles before yawning. A quick glance across the room at the clock on the wall told him that he was probably the first one up, once again. He shook his head s he glanced around his room. He remembered that his little turtle toddler brothers had practically shoved him into largest bedroom and said it was his. Looking around at the wide space, the eldest was now certain, he didn't know how to fill so much space. He shook his head and slipped outside his room before walking towards the kitchen.

When he stepped into the kitchen, he glanced up to see three, 16-year-old, teenage mutant ninja turtles staring back at him.

"Morning Sensei!"

* * *

Now if you didn't understand the flashbacks I'll explain, the bolded flashbacks were from when all the turtles were younger and Splinter was caring for them while the italicized flashbacks were from when Leo was taking care of them as they grew up. I probably didn't need to explain that but I thought I would for good measure.

Now, the unfortunate question will be answered…

Yes, sadly, we now say goodbye to the turtle tots. I decree a snuggling party!

*Picks up turtle tot Raph*

You are so adorable! *Snuggles*

"ANIKI HELP! THE WEIRD AUTHOR GIRL HAS ME!"

I decree everyone must cuddle a turtle tot before moving on to the next chapter.

Please review! And snuggle with a turtle tot or two!

~Moonsetta


	22. Ch 21 New Times

Alright! I'm back with a new chapter! Happy New Years!

I don't own TMNT. But if I ever do, I will die happy. ^_^

* * *

"Hey sensei, you want a waffle?" Mikey said, shooting to his feet as his older brother walked into the kitchen with a tired smile.

"Yes, thank you Michelangelo," Leo said, staring down at the teenage ninja turtles below him before he sank into his chair.

"Did you sleep better last night?" Don asked, "I updated the heater yesterday, it should keep your warmer at night."

"Donatello, are you telling me you went into my room without permission?"

The purple clad started sweating, "Well um sensei I was just um uh…"

Raph and Mikey chuckled behind their hands while Leo smirked, enjoying as Don dug himself further and further.

"Alright stop, it's ok Donatello," the blue banded turtle said with a smile.

Don breathed a sigh of relief, to which Mikey laughed out loud at.

"Shut up Mikey," Don remarked.

"Donatello," Leo warned sternly.

"Sorry sensei."

"Kids," Leo said while rolling his eyes.

"Here you go sensei, _Bon appetit_ !"

"Don't tell me, French?"

"Oui, Oiu," Michelangelo said with a horrible French accent.

"Just sit down and eat your breakfast," Raph said good naturedly with a shake of his head and an amused smile.

"Yes sir, Fearless Leader!" Mikey said with a mocking salute and smile.

The eldest turtle rolled his eyes, somehow, Raphael had fallen into his previous place. He thought it was so ironic now that the red banded turtle that had always teased him with the nickname was now being teased with it as well.

"Michelangelo?"

"Uh yes, sensei?" Mikey said quietly, his eyes widening, "Um, am I trouble?"

"No," Leo said with a smile, "I'm just wondering how you came up with that nickname."

"Sensei, please don't get him started," Raph said and then sighed while slapping a hand over his eyes.

Mikey giggled, "That's easy, I heard it on Space Jam!"

"That movie with Michael Jordan and the Looney Toons?"

"Duh!" Mikey says with a goofy expression, "Daffy said it to Bugs."

"You and cartoons," Raph said while rolling his eyes, before glancing down at the can of coke in front of him. He almost reached to take a drink when he glanced over at his older brother.

"You want some tea sensei?"

"Yes, thank you Raphael. That would be wonderful."

"Suck up," Don muttered as Raph walked towards the stove where their large, bronze tea kettle was sitting.

Leo pretended to ignore what he had heard as Raphael handed him a cup of green tea.

"So sensei?" Mikey asked meekly, causing Leo to look up at him suspiciously as he placed his cup down onto the table.

"Yes?"

"Well uh, you ask him," Mikey said, looking pointedly at Donny.

"No way, Fearless Leader over there can ask him."

"Raphael, what are they talking about?"

"Well," said the red banded turtle, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "We were hoping that maybe we could, stay out an hour later than usual?"

Leo sighed heavily as he bent forward and rested his head on his folded hands. This was what the younger turtles recognized as a bad sign, this always meant an outright, "No. Absolutely not!"

"Alright, if you complete your evening practice an hour early as well."

"YES!" the smaller three mutant turtles cheered, high three-ing each other over the table.

"I suppose this means that you'll be stuffing yourselves with pizza on the other side of town?" Leo asked, hiding a frown and forcing a fake smile onto his face.

"Right on sensei! I can't wait to try that new spicy barbeque Hawaiian at Vinny's," Mikey said, his smile stretching from one side of his face to the other.

"Why can't you like anything normal?" Raph asked, leaning back a bit in his chair.

While the orange and red masked turtles got into a debate about the best pizza toppings, Leo stood up and slipped outside, heading for the main room to watch the news. He'd been studying the city for years, searching. Strangely, Karai and the Foot empire had mysteriously vanished 11 years ago, when his students had been only five years old. There was no trace anywhere he looked but he continued looking, keeping his eyes open and his hearing acute.

Speaking of acute hearing, "Yes Donatello? Do you need something?"

The purple clad turtle sighed and shook his head, "Why am I not surprised? You do that all the time sensei."

"Hey one of these days my hearing won't be so sharp."

Don frowned and walked around to sit next to his older brother and teacher on the couch, "You can come too sensei. If you want."

"Hmm?"

"With us tonight," Don explained and then looked down at his hands, which were fiddling nervously in his lap, "I mean, you can come with us. I know you want to but we've never invited you and I thought that if I did, well you could come and well, because I've always noticed how sad you look when we mention patrols and pizza. When we do I know you end up eating alone and well I-"

Leo laughed silently before turning to his purple banded little brother, setting a rough, scarred and elderly hand on his shoulder, "Thank you for noticing Donatello, but you three need room to grow without me. Yes I often eat alone, but it's worth seeing all of you come home safely. Plus, don't worry, I have my own adventures and no offense but sometimes our home is at its most relaxing when there are no teenagers present."

He purple masked turtle looked worried for a quick second before he nodded in acceptance, "I'll bring you home a pizza all your own for tonight and maybe we could stay up and play chess?"

Leo smiled and reached out, pulling his little brother to him in a gentle embrace, "Gomenasai Dai-kun," he whispered before nuzzling Donny's head affectionately like he used to back when they were toddlers.

"Aniki," Donny said playfully, pulling away quickly, his cheeks red from embarrassment.

Leo laughed good naturedly before he glanced up as Michelangelo and Raphael walked out of the kitchen.

"I claim the PS3!" Mikey yelled, diving for the game system.

"Mikey, sensei's watching the news, we have to know what's going on. Especially if the Foot decides to pop out of no where," Raph said, his arms crossed as he leaned against the back of the couch.

"Yes oh mighty leader, sir!" Mikey said while rolling his eyes.

"Michelangelo," Leo warned, his narrowed eyes meeting his youngest brother's causing the said youngest turtle to curl up with wide, trusting eyes, "I'll be quiet."

The eldest relaxed against the back of the couch with a sigh before a hand fell onto his shoulder. He glanced up to see his immediate younger brother staring down at him, "Are you ok sensei?"

The blue banded turtle _almost _rolled his eyes, he thought Raphael had been protective of his family before. Boy had that become an understatement.

"I'm fine Raphael," Leo assured the red masked turtle.

After a boring story about a malfunction at a construction site where a building frame collapsed (no one was hurt) Leo turned the TV over to Mikey. Who beamed as his mind settled into the world of a game he slipped inside the console.

"Just don't pour orange juice down that thing again," Don warned his younger brother, "It's already gone through five resurrections."

That having been said Don slipped into his lab. Leo smiled as he did so, yes Donatello was a bit different. The genius turtle's lab wasn't completely cut off from the rest of their home, it was simply like a station set up on the far side of the room. No walls separated it from the rest of their home. The eldest glanced back as the television gained that starting menu of Mikey's video game. He wasn't really sure what it was, but his thoughts went back to the Foot, Karai, Stockman and the missing time scepter. He had a strong suspicion that they all had something in common.

Time, it had become his teacher as he raised his younger brothers as his sons for 12 years. He glanced down at his hand and saw too many scars and cracked skin. He had to admit it, he was getting on in years, being now 41 years old. He wasn't his once youthful age of 16 any longer.

A hand covering his made him look up into concerned blue eyes, covered by a red mask.

"Are you sure you're ok sensei?"

Leo smiled, holding back a frown. He HATED when one of them asked him that. It not only made him feel older than he was, it also brought out his greatest fear.

"I'm fine," he assured his younger brother, "I think I'll head to the dojo."

With that Leo got to his feet and walked off down a hallway, opposite from the hallway that lead to their bedrooms, and pushed back a sliding door. His eyes gleamed when they hovered around the dojo. He was proud, they had all built it together, even if his little brothers had just been toddlers.

"Sensei?"

He turned around to find Raphael in the doorway.

"Yes Raphael?"

"I think I got the Spinning Hawk down, if you want to see it," he said, a certain spark of pride lighting in his eyes.

Leo smiled slowly and proudly before nodding stoutly and asking, "With or without your weapons?"

"Both."

The eldest laughed softly and pulled Raph into the dojo before shutting the door softly behind them.

"Alright, let's see what you can do."

Raph smirked and reached for his weapons. Leo closed his eyes, enjoying the cling of two blades coming together. He crossed the room and sat on one of the many meditation mats they had gathered and even made over the years before opening his eyes and staring proudly at the brother before him. Then, the movement began, the blades dancing, like they had in his hands, so long ago.

Yes, it may surprise many but it wasn't a pair of sais that the red masked turtle held, it was a pair of katanas that Leo had once held close to his heart. He raised his hands and unsheathed the two swords that rested on his shell. One had been a sword that had belonged to Master Yoshi, Splinter had used it in battle when the elderly mutant rat had found himself in a dangerous situation, then when their father had passed away, he had left it for the eldest. The other was a sword that had been a gift from his best friend Usagi at Christmas, so many years ago.

"Sensei?"

Leo looked up from where he was staring at his swords to see his younger brother looking at him in concern.

"My apologies Raphael," he said softly while he sheathed his swords.

Raph nodded and continued on in his movements.

Back…left…forward strike…back kick…side strike…uppercut…turn…downward slash…end.

Perfect.

Leo smiled proudly, "Excellent Raphael. you're advancing rapidly."

"Too rapidly," he silently thought with a hidden frown.

It's true, Raphael was showing great potential but-Leo feared that his potential would overcome his own teachings. He wasn't their father, he never would be. He wasn't a great ninjitsu master, of course, he did know one. It had been a little over a year since they had last seen Rennet, who was only able to travel to their time by Lord Simultaneous' powers, for the Time Scepter, as far as the knew was with Stockman. He could be in prehistoric times, or hundreds of millennia into the future.

These thoughts only brought up Leo's greatest fear, that they wouldn't find Stockman and the Time Scepter. If they didn't he wasn't sure how long he had. He remembered Leatherhead's speech about the red eared slider species living around 70 years, while a human's was around 70 as well. Even if he did have those 30 years he doubted that he would stay with his brothers for too long. His greatest fear, was that they would watch him die, as they had watched their father die so many years ago. Rennet and Lord Simultaneous had already been searching for 12 of their years, of course, this meant nothing to them, they would live for eternity. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Leo had to face the truth that almost 1/3 of his time was gone. If they couldn't find the scepter, of they refused to return the others' memories and restore him to his normal age, what then? He would have to leave them.

The eldest shook off the thoughts and stood up to join Raphael in a sparring match, letting his thoughts melt away, he would deal with them when the time came. Right now, all he could do was enjoy the thrill of clanking swords and the feelings and memories it returned to his mind.

_Fighting the Foot…_

_Eating six pizzas on the rooftops with his brothers…_

_Meditations with his father…_

_Mikey's old pranks…_

_Sparring sessions…_

_Weapons Practice…_

_Don's victorious cries after he finished an invention…_

_Camping in the forest by the farmhouse…_

_Casey's clumsiness…_

_April's words…_

_Raph's sarcastic remarks…_

He missed it all, but all he could do was go on, and if he was lucky, Rennet and Lord Simultaneous would find Stockman, regain the Time Scepter…

And return his world to him.

* * *

Alright, now no one bite my head off because Leo's still older than the others. I know All Turtles 16 won, but this isn't the end. There's still a bit of an adventure for the Turtles to go through, so just hold on.

Plus, I wanted to get one last chapter up before school tomorrow. Finally, I'm going early, if it wasn't for my writing, these breaks would drive me crazy! O_O

Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW!

~Moonsetta


	23. Ch 22 Unwanted Discovery

Thanks for the reviews everyone, I hope you enjoy this chapter! And bluepickles92, you're right, it started getting annoying as I typed it, but then again in "You Have No Idea," I hated making Leo act and talk that way to Don, but I imagined it would receive more responses if everything wasn't perfect.

Now to chapter 22. Three left, that's right people 25 chapters, plus the prologue, so technically there's 26.

The epilogue possibility depends on the kind of ending I have for this story. Happy, sad, or bittersweet, unfortunately, this time it's not your choice.

I don't own TMNT, but I do love playing with my TMNT action figures and their own BattleShell! I'm going to listen to all their theme songs while writing this chapter:

Let's see the 80's turtles' first song, then the later one (Which is kind of lame), the Movies' songs, Next Mutation, all the ones for the 2k3 series, Fast Forward, then Back to the Sewer, and then the CGI movie soundtracks TURTLES RULE! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEW LIVE ACTION MOVIE!

Truthfully, despite having such a story as "You Have No Idea", I don't like the CGI movie. I was more surprised when I was told it was considered the fourth one in the series, it makes no sense compared to the others. Well, I better stop before I rant for pages and page on end!

* * *

"WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE!"

Leo had just come out of the dojo from his evening meditation only to find the main room covered in pink slime from floor to ceiling and was that cheese all over the couch? His eyes traveled over the scene before that locked on target, said target, or targets, were Donatello and Michelangelo. They were both trying to escape the sticky slime and yell at each other at the same time. When they realized that their oldest brother was glaring at them and waiting for an explanation they pointed at each other.

"HE DID IT!"

The blue banded turtle sighed before he raised a hand to his head, feeling on oncoming migraine, "Never mind, I don't want to know the details, just please clean this up."

"Hey! Huh, what the shell happened here?" Raph said, his blue eyes scanning the scene as he walked in from the doorway to the sewers.

"I told Mikey not to bother me while I was working on that cleaning solution!" Don protested, slinging some of the slime into Mikey's face.

The youngest wiped it away and glared back at his purple banded older brother, "But I'm bored, and Raph's always gone."

The red masked turtle rolled his eyes, "Mikey if you so much as even think about filling my hammock with bugs again, I'll rip your tongue out."

"Sensei, are you going to let him say that?"

Leo smirked, "Well, as violent as his revenge usually is, it can be quite an effective teaching strategy."

"That's not fair!" Mikey yelled.

"Just clean this up," Leo said while glaring down at the youngest turtles, who were still attempting to get out of the slime and onto their feet, which they were failing at horribly.

Raph sighed and jumped over the slime puddle, since it was covering the space in front of the door.

"Nice jump," Leo commented to the side.

"Thanks sensei," Raph said respectively while bowing his head towards his teacher.

Leo glanced over at the red banded turtle and thought back to when he had been the same way with his own master. Of course, that was one thing he wouldn't allow. Having his brothers referring to him as their sensei was strange enough, but he shuddered at the thought of them calling him 'Master Leonardo". That was one thing he immediately derailed from their ethical decision making from the beginning.

"Sensei, can I talk to you? In private?" Raph asked.

"Of course," Leo said and headed for the dojo, his red banded brother in tow.

When they door closed on their little brothers disputes Raph's usual, neutral scowl fell into a worried frown.

"What's wrong Raph?" Leo said softly.

Raph fidgeted nervously for a second, his old habit reappeared as he twisted his foot against the stones of the floor. Leo only used their nicknames when he was confused and worried.

"Uh, I took the new route for my patrol across the city."

"What happened?"

Raph glanced back at the door, "I ran into someone. A woman."

"You showed yourself to a human?"

"She knew me though, it was really weird, but-"

"Wait! What did she look like."

"She said her name was Karai."

Leo almost fell back in shock.

"She gave me this," Raph said, tentatively holding out a piece of black cloth.

Leo reached out cautiously, taking it carefully and turning it over in his hand. When the red Foot symbol met his eyes, his head snapped to the door.

"Raphael, get your brothers, it's time I tell you all, everything."

* * *

Ok a short chapter but I wanted to get it up today.

~Moonsetta


	24. Ch 23 First and Final Battle

Hey everyone, I'm back with an update! Testing's finally over at school, although I will busy this weekend with a History review and an English essay to write, but I decided to take some time to type up the next chapter of this story because I haven't updated in a long time. Okay, five days.

Oh and a quick note, any of you waiting for the next chapter of One and Three, I think I'm going to continue that after I finish this, then once it's done, I'll move on to It's Not OK.

Here's chapter 23

I don't own even one member the ninjitsu instructed quad team of bipedal teenage mutated trachemys scripta elegans.

* * *

Leo gazed down questioningly at the cloth, slightly glaring before the sliding of the door made him look up.

"You wanted to see us sensei?" Donny asked, his eyes shifting nervously.

Were they in trouble? Had the slime upset their teacher?

"Uh, sensei about the mess, we cleaned it up and I was only trying to come up with a solution that would help decrease the amount of moss and mold-"

"Silence," Leo said stoutly, raising a hand for silence, stopping Donatello's apologies and halting the apologies Mikey was no doubt going to come out with.

"My students, sit," he said seriously.

They automatically obeyed.

Leo stared down worriedly at the red flame again.

"The Foot?" Donatello whispered when he saw the cloth.

"Yes," the eldest said and took a deep breath.

Even though some memories had returned to the younger turtles, they had only been few and had come to them in dreams, and they believed them to be just that, dreams. After the Foot had disappeared sometime after Mikey's 5th birthday, Leo had been high-strung, always scouting the city for any trace of the ninja. As he patrolled every night, he always stuck close to the surface's manholes, in case he had to duck back down into the sewers. He could still remember when he was ambushed when he had been out on his own. After that, his brothers, his old 16-year-old brothers, always saw that someone went with him or that he at least called them ever so often.

And they had called him bossy…

He had known that one of them sometimes followed him when he went out alone. How he managed not to turn around and yell at them to leave them alone, he'll never know.

Getting past all those times, Leo's mind focused on the 'now'.

"I must admit, you three know little of the Foot," Leo said.

"I know they tried to turtle-nap us when we were younger," Donny said.

Mikey shivered, "And they're ninja, we know that."

"I may not know who the Shredder is," Raph said slowly with crossed arms, "He's gotta be the leader though."

"How do you know?" Mikey asked.

"The dream, you idiot," Raph said with a glare.

The two younger turtles' faces fell with realization and fear. The dream was the one memory that they had all remembered. Leo took a deep breath, shaking off his own memories of that time. Thinking of his ambush wouldn't help them right now. Ever since the Foot had disappeared, the Purple Dragons had taken over the city but, because of them, the gang wasn't doing so good right now. Unfortunately, Hun had disappeared along with the Foot as well, and he was normally the only connection they had to the Foot.

Like the toddlers before had forgotten their friends and father, they had also forgotten their enemies as well, they knew a few names and what had happened to them when they were four but that was about it. The only other thing they knew was that the Foot ninja were dangerous.

So, it almost felt like history repeated itself as Leo told them everything, of their previous lives when they had all been together, Shredder's numerous falls and returns, their adventures within and outside the city, their final battle on the Shredder's spaceship against the Utrom alien, which the three had found hard to believe at first. He had tried to tell them all of this over the years, but they had been young, too young to understand.

"But what about that woman, Karai," Raph said, spitting the woman's name out at the end before shaking his head, "I don't know what it is about her, but I hate that b-"

"RAPHAEL!" Leo reprimanded before his younger brother could say the word he was sure would follow.

"Sorry sensei," he muttered, looking to the floor but not really sounding apologetic.

Truthfully, thinking over their past, Leo wouldn't have reprimanded the red clad turtle if they had been in Karai's presence. He probably would've thought the same thing, well he would have used a different, more _kinder_ word than Raph had but, he understood. Karai hadn't exactly been friendly after the Utroms had banished her father into deep space. She had wanted revenge and as far as Leo had known years ago, still desired it.

"So what do we do sensei?" Don asked.

"Nothing," Leo said, "For now, nothing."

"But sensei, shouldn't we do _something_?" Mikey asked.

"Yeah sensei," Raph said, "If Karai's out to really do all this, shouldn't we stop her ASAP?"

"You three are not ready to face her."

"What about you?" Don asked, "You can fight her and we can be there for backup."

"I'm getting on in years," Leo said with a forlorn glance at the stone tiled floor.

"Oh come on sensei, you can wipe the floor with us," Mikey commented, "Karai can't be that hard to beat."

Leo had a million thoughts spinning in his head, memories, strategies, emotions, future possibilities and so much more that it was giving him quite a headache. One thought and decision though, overpowered all the thoughts though.

"No. Absolutely not."

Leo rose to his feet before walking towards the door.

"But sensei-" the younger turtles protested.

"I said NO!" Leo yelled, turning around and glaring at his younger brothers.

Watching fear light their eyes, Leo took a calming, deep breath and then said quietly, "Karai is a very skilled warrior. You three can not defeat her."

"But can't we at least try?" Don asked.

"No," Leo said stoutly, "Your training is canceled, and none of you shall leave the lair. Now if you will excuse me, I must meditate on these thoughts."

With that, the blue banded turtle was gone.

Back in the dojo Raph growled and got to his feet, "I can't believe that b- woman did all that to us."

"And more importantly to sensei."

"Why can't we remember any of this?" Mikey asked.

"Sensei's already explained that Mikey," Donny answered, "Whatever it was that that guy Stockman did to us. Then, Lord Simultaneous and that girl Rennet."

"I'm confused," Mikey groaned, holding his head in mock agony.

"Well I'm convinced that Karai," Raph said, spitting the woman's name, "Has something to do with that Stockman guy."

"Why do you say that?" Don asked, confusion falling over his face as he watched his immediate older brother pace around the room.

"Think about it Brainiac," Raph yelled, turning his narrowed eyes towards the far wall, although it looked like he was glancing at something beyond the simple wall itself.

"What do you mean?" Mikey asked.

"Sensei's told us that Karai was a bit older than us, back before Stockman made all this happen, so when I ran in her tonight you think she'd be older, but actually, she looks younger."

"The Time Scepter!" Don shouted.

"You mean she's working with Stockman?" Mikey asked in surprise.

"No doubt about it," Raph said while shaking his head.

"With Stockman on her side, she could find our home, get to us-" Don added.

"And to Aniki," Mikey mumbled, his eyes widening before they settled on the closed door of the dojo.

Raph looked to his youngest brother with concern although his characteristic scowl remained on his face. They had all referred to their eldest brother as their sensei, it just seemed more formal since he had been the one to teach and raise them. Once when they were younger, Mikey had slipped up once and called their older brother 'dad' which was immediately shot down by Leo. This had lead to quite a scene though when Mikey had claimed that the kids on TV had parents, some in particular only had one parent and they hadn't seen any shows about orphans at that time, so Mikey had complained asking why Leo couldn't be their father, he was certainly old enough to and acted like it. It took a few hours but eventually Leo explained that it made him sad, because it made him think of their true father.

Thinking back on that, Raph decided, as he went over and sat down to put a supportive arm around Mikey's shoulders, that there was probably more to it than that. Mikey leaned slightly into the embrace.

"So what are we going to do?" Mikey asked, looking up at Raph.

The red banded turtle seemed to ponder that situation for a minute before he opened his mouth, "Well, sensei's told us everything, we may not recognize any of it, but it has to have happened. And I don't know what it is about Karai, but she's got sensei stressed."

"I'd be too if someone like her wanted to run me through," Don admitted.

"Then we're going after her," Raph said.

"But what about sensei?" Mikey asked.

"We'll leave a note saying we went to go pick up some pizzas for dinner," Raph said, he didn't really like lying to their teacher, but if his memory served him right, and it usually did, sometimes, then he knew that Karai had to be stopped.

Actually, the night before he had had another dream, that was, he knew now, a memory. A memory of a certain, black haired, green eyed woman in a scene where her sword had pierced their older brother's plastron, stabbing him through the ribs, the end of blade slightly scrapping the surface of the other turtle's lung.

Raphael shook his thoughts away and let his arm drop from around Mikey's shoulders, After a quick glance at both his younger brothers, he stood up and drew the swords resting in the sheaths on his shell before crossing them.

"We're going to meet Karai, and get rid of her," Raph said, "Get ready to leave."

Donny and Mikey nodded, walking off to get their weapons, which they had left in the living room after the slime incident, which was only, partially cleaned up. The red banded turtle watched them for a moment before looking down at the swords he held. He fingered the red cloth wrapped around the hilt of the sword and slightly pushed away a loose strand of cloth. Underneath were blue wrappings that matched the color of his older brother's mask.

Raph couldn't really explain the pride , honor and shock he had felt when his sensei had handed him the swords that he had always used and carried throughout his life. Raph then glanced sideways at a cabinet on the far side of the room. He sheathed the twin katana and made his way over. He opened the door and glanced inside until his eyes landed on a small box within. He opened the lid and sucked in his breath as the red wrapped sais gleamed against the shadow that his form threw over it. He debated for a long minute before taking them into his hands and twirling them experimentally. Resolved, he tucked them in his belt, replaced the lid on the box and then closed the door.

"Hey Fearless," a voice called.

Raph turned to see Mikey and Donny waiting at the door.

Don smirked, "We're ready to go."

* * *

A/N: Gasp! Doesn't this seem familiar?

*Cough*The Shredder Strikes. *Cough*

* * *

It was only a short 20 minutes that still seemed 7 years too long for the turtles as they hopped across the rooftops of the city buildings. They finally stopped when they reached the rooftop of an old, broken down hotel.

"This the place?" Mikey asked.

"This is it alright," Raph said as his eyes drifted towards the shadows.

Mikey and Donny joined him as they scoped out the shadows of the night around them to search for Karai.

"I see you have returned Raphael."

The three turtles jumped and turned at the sound of the voice.

"Karai," Raph growled as his blazing blue eyes landed on the woman standing on top of the next building over.

Don's determined scowl fell into a curious frown. This was Karai? She didn't seem like much. She appeared to be about maybe 5 to 7 years older than them, had black that almost brushed her shoulders, gleaming green eyes and a thin frame. She looked like she could be an average everyday woman walking the streets of New York, well if it wasn't for her Foot uniform and the sword she had in her hand. Then he grew even more confused when a look of disappointment and confusion fell over the woman's face.

"Where is Leonardo?" Karai asked.

"None ya business!" Raph yelled, his hands instinctively reaching for his swords.

Don and Mikey followed and withdrew their own weapons.

"It is Leonardo I wish to fight, not you three."

Raph growled, he could normally keep his temper under control, but his anger was boiling. Leo had always told him that conquering such anger would take time. Unfortunately, it seems like all their exercises and lessons for controlling anger were all going out the door. Karai jumped down from the building, landing on the opposite side of the motel rooftop from the turtles.

"Then I will find Leonardo through other means, but before I do that, I will take care of you three."

With that more forms melted away from the shadows, taking on the form of the Foot ninja that had tried to kidnap them from so long ago. Because of that experience, the turtles were anxious before they clashed weapons with the ninja, all smirking inwardly at the chance for a little revenge. For kidnapping them, tying them up, throwing them in a closet, trying to blow them up with a bomb, throwing Raphael into a wall when he was nothing but a four year old, and trying to take Mikey and Donny away after beating their older brothers. Plain and simple, when they hit the ninja and heard their grunts of pain and discomfort, they reveled in the sense of revenge as they felt bones break underneath their weapons.

Donny was the first one by Karai's side and he was convinced that he was more determined than either Raph or Mikey to finish Karai off. As clear as their hate against the Shredder was before, their anger for Karai seemed greater. Like in the past how the eldest turtle Leonardo, had appeared the closest to their father, which often drew resentment from the others, mostly Raphael, now the red banded turtle appeared to be the closest to their older brother and new teacher, as if taking his place, Donatello was the one that often fell into feelings of resentment, longing to be closer to the father figure in their life.

Karai almost lazily stepped forward and met Donny's incoming Bo Staff with a small distance of two inches. The smugness of the move screamed mockery at the purple banded turtle. Don growled and applied more pressure on his bo, trying to push the sword to the right to leave Karai's left side open for an attack. With an extra grunt of determination, Karai let her sword be pushed to the side. The wood of the bo slipped along the blade and a grin of triumph lit Don's face as he turned and prepared to hit Karai's left side, aiming for the ribs, when suddenly a hit to his plastron sit him skidding across the roof on his shell.

"She's fast," Don realized when he finally stopped flying backwards.

That move would've worked, but Karai was too fast.

"Ok," Don thought as he rose to his feet, one hand clutching at his now bruised ribs, "I need a new strategy."

"Hey lady, over here!" cried out a familiar voice.

Donny looked up to see Mikey clash with Karai, one of his nunchucks encircling the woman's sword.

It was only a second later before the sword was pulled away by Mikey and, much like Donny had, skidded across the rooftop, balancing precariously on the edge before it plummeted into the empty motel front below.

Now the red banded turtle had only been aware of jumping backwards to avoid attacks and at least attempting to drive forward with his katanas lashing out at the black and red forms in front of him. When he had finally cleared a path for himself, he found that he was three buildings away from the motel rooftop where Mikey was engaged in a battle with Karai. He had a split second to notice that Donny had been injured. Then, Raphael's vision grew dark when more Foot ninja surrounded him and once again, he was fighting alone. Why were all the Foot ninja coming after him?

Karai jumped back to avoid one of Mikey's attacks, scooping up a quarterstaff from a fallen foot ninja. She smiled in her own form of triumph when her new weapon met the end of Mikey's nunchuck and the said wooden end of the nunchuck cracked.

"What," Mikey whispered in shock before an uppercut to the jaw made him skid across the rooftop, to join Donny, who was still trying to get his breath back. The genius turtle himself hypothesized that at least one of his ribs was not just bruised, but broken and possibly applying unsafe pressure against his left lung.

"How did she do that?" Mikey asked, glancing down at his now cracked weapon.

Donny glanced up and fought his loss of breath to answer as Karai began walking towards them with a satisfied smirk on her lips, "She's…using a….quarter…staff…made with….p-petrified…wood."

"You two try my patience," Karai said, before raising the petrified wooden staff above her head, "But you are of little use. I have other means of finding and destroying Leonardo."

"LEAVE MY BROTHERS ALONE!"

Karai turned and lost her breath as a sword entered her shoulder and an elbow was thrust into her gut, causing her to go flying into the air, landing quite painfully on the other side of the building.

* * *

Leonardo stepped out of his room and entered the main room, it was too quiet. He noticed a piece of paper on the coffee table in front of the still turned on television and he seethed in anger. He had told them not to leave the lair! Well…at least they _had_ left a note this time. He picked up and read it over quickly.

_Sensei,_

_We went out to grab a few pizzas for dinner. Donny's going to challenge you to a chess marathon when we get home and Raph says that he's got ANOTHER move to show you. Good luck with him oh and I'm calling tomorrow night movie night._

_Mikey_

It seemed innocent enough. Too innocent.

"What is the one thing I didn't want them to do?" Leo thought sarcastically, "Face Karai. Idiots! I'll kill them for this."

With that, Leo dropped the note and raced out of the lair. He had to find his younger brothers.

* * *

Karai smiled at the sight of the red masked turtle while slightly sending disappointed glances at the Foot ninja on the rooftops around them. Oh well, they had held him off and tired him out. Karai herself knew that of the turtles, the two eldest were the first ones anyone could guess to be the warriors. Their sharpened, bladed weapons proved it all too well. The red banded turtle, she knew, held to his anger very critically, so overpowering him in battle was easy, but if she had learned one thing from their battle in her father's spaceship is was that Raphael did not take very kindly to her, especially after she had accidentally stabbed Leonardo. Yes, accidentally, when the Shredder had kicked Leonardo towards her, the blade she held had already been outstretched and the blue banded turtle had no way to stop as she had no way to move the sword in time, therefore, there was no other ending than the result that the turtle being impaled on the blade, his own blade.

Either way, Leonardo had fallen Raphael had charged, his anger almost becoming laser beams as he went after Karai, starving for revenge, probably to drive the same blade through as she had done to his older brother.

Karai shook off the memories and mirrored the stance that Raph fell into. No matter what, Karai could not let revenge or the feeling of betrayal leave her, she clung to them.

When the quarterstaff she still held met the two blades she almost felt like she was fighting the blue banded turtle again, expcept that the eyes that stared back at her weren't the calming onyx she had remembered, despite the blue color, they were fire in their essence. Blue fire.

Raph growled. He hated her. That's all he knew, he was angry at her for so many reasons, he couldn't really decide which hit was for which experience. Was the uppercut for stabbing Leo? Was the punch into her stomach for hurting Donny?

All these questions and more flooded his mind and he began to understand why his sensei meditated so often, how in the world could you make sense of all the emotions if you didn't have any time to think things through? With that Karai was knocked out of his view by a swinging bo staff and the quarterstaff landed at the turtles feet as the three stood together and then turned to Karai.

"Dudette, you are so going down!" Mikey yelled, twirling his weapons threateningly, "No one breaks my weapons."

"Better believe it, no one hurts my family," Donny said with a glare, having successfully regained his breath.

"And more importantly, no one threatens our sensei," Raph growled, all three turtles tensing to spring.

Karai perked up at the word 'sensei' and she let a small, devious smile cross her face. Then the three turtles charged. It was at three inches before their weapons reached that she sprang forward, bringing her fist around, aimed at their upper plastrons. Yes, normally this would seem like a stupid idea to aim directly at the natural armor, but then metal gleamed in the dim lights of the surrounding buildings and the turtles fell as small cracks appeared in their plastrons.

Their breath gone and hearts beating rapidly, they glanced up as Karai walked towards them, the doubled bladed weapon on her hand shining in the moonlight.

The turtles recognized it from their memories, the Shredder's gauntlet!

* * *

Whew, time for a break.

….

Hmm

And we're back!

* * *

"KARAI!"

The emerald eyed woman turned around, spotting a figure on the other side of the rooftop.

"Sensei!" the other turtles called out.

Karai smirked, "I see you have finally decided to join us Leonardo."

When the blue banded turtle stepped out of the shadows, Karai was slightly taken aback by the sight of the aged turtle. His skin had grown darker than the grassy green shade it had been and he was much taller than she remembered.

Without another word between them Leo charged, both his katanas flashing in the surrounding dim lights. Karai jumped to right to avoid the attack and scooped up the sword of a fallen Foot ninja. Leonardo turned to her and raised his swords in a silent challenge. Then she raised hers in silent acceptance. It didn't matter what had happened in the past, this would be their final battle.

They both darted forward, their swords clashing together before the applied enough pressure to throw one another back a few feet. Then, they circled around the rooftops, the three younger turtles on the side becoming silent spectators. Karai struck first, her sword slanted and aimed to strike underneath Leo's plastron on the right. Leo blocked the strike with one sword and never got the time to strike with the other before a blade glinted and the gauntlet that held so much history of the Shredder slashed him across his plastron.

There were cracks and blood. The blue banded turtle tried to call on a reserve of strength but as soon as it rose to the surface, Karai quickly turned and kicked out, the heel of her foot landing directly on the bleeding crack. The eldest turtle then knew that it was a losing battle. This Karai hadn't seemed to age, no doubt she knew something about Stockman and the Time Scepter, but it wasn't like Karai was up to talking to him at the moment.

The next blow, he barely dodge as the blue clad turtle turned quickly in an attempt for a backwards slash, unfortunately, unlike Karai, he had aged. 41 wasn't exactly anyone's prime age and his body was beginning to feel the strain. He knew because as he turned to deliver that combo, Karai was already behind him, her sword raised to separate his head from his body.

Leo moved to stop the slice across his neck but did not move quick enough to stop it from slicing a long gash across his left leg.

"Sensei!" the others cried out.

Leo gritted his teeth then used the falling momentum to his advantage, he grounded his other foot, swinging around rapidly and landing a blow across Karai's face. Of course, this only worked momentarily for Karai then dashed forward, lashing out with her sword and gauntlet. The sword and gauntlet rose before descending in a V formation. Red stripes appeared on Leo's upper arms, his nerves rattled and before he knew it, his swords were on the rooftop below him, and then a harsh, violent, double kick to his plastron had him sliding across the roof. He heard a silent chuckle before glanced up, only to find a descending blade in front of his eyes.

"SENSEI! NO!"

* * *

Do I like leaving readers in suspense? Yes-I'm waiting for that one reviewer that will just walk around chanting YOU'RE EVIL! EVIL! EVIL!

Anyways, here's a little tidbit, I said that in the end all turtles will be returned to their 16 year old selves so you're probably saying, Leo can't die here, he's not 16 yet. I said all the turtles at the END will be 16, I never said all four turtles will **make **it to the end.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

~Moonsetta


	25. Ch 24 Rest In Peace

*Reads over death threats.*

Wow. O_O I think I should continue.

*Is writing this currently hiding inside hidden compartment in ceiling.* I'm currently hiding from an enraged Raph and Leo. ^_^

Now to the chapter while I quietly listen to the crashing furniture and cursing below me.

"WHERE IS SHE?"

"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT LITTLE-"

"Wait Raph, I think I hear her. Above us!"

X_X O_O

Please enjoy this chapter while I locate a new hiding spot. VERY QUICKLY!

I don't own TMNT but if I keep making them angry I think they'll try to claim me as an in condition punching bag.

* * *

With his swords out of reach and no time, Leo prepared to be hit with the swords and the double bladed gauntlet, he just didn't have time to block.

* * *

Ah…that's it! ^_^

Readers: WHAT! -_- O_O

Kidding. -_-'

* * *

The three turtles watched helplessly as the silver blade descended on their teacher. Then, one of them knew something. Leo didn't have time to block, but he did have time to catch.

"SENSEI! HEADS UP!"

Leo turned his head at the sight of two flying blades as they embedded themselves within the rooftop between him and Karai. He gritted his teeth and shot forward, grabbing the two red cloth covered blades up and lashing out at Karai as she jumped backwards from the shock at the sight of the swords. The three swords and gauntlet all met each other in a standstill before a chain shot out from Karai's belt, knocking Leo back again. Karai grabbed the chain and it acted like a snake, flying out and coiling around the swords, yanking them from Leo's hands like the previous ones. Leo growled and dodged Karai's next sword attack. He aimed for her head and landed a swift side punch across the woman's eyes, of course, even blinded momentarily, Karai could still fight and her anger only grew when her double bladed gauntlet clattered to the rooftop below. The proof of this was a triple hard kick to Leo's head before the blue clad turtle flew backwards, barely catching himself as he perched precariously on the edge of the rooftop.

"You are finished Leonardo!" Karai yelled as she ran forward.

Fortunately, this had bought the heroes enough time. A red blur appeared between the charging woman and the blue masked turtle. An orange blur and a purple blur followed 1/10 of a second later. Karai suddenly stopped when pain shot through her rib cage, she heard her rib bones knocking against one another and then her own loss of breath. She glanced down. The same two bladed gauntlet that had been raised against the turtles throughout the years was now protruding from her rib cage. She glanced up as she dropped her sword and helplessly stared at the three enraged faces glaring at her. The blows came all at once, the bo staff was swept against her left side, the ribs breaking and cracking. Two hits from flying nunchucks sent her skull backwards, a large amount of blood dripping from a cut across her forehead and into her eyes. Then, there was a slice of thin air as two blades raced down her arms, her hands falling open as she let out a medium toned yell.

Karai glared up at the three turtles, revenge burning in both her and their eyes. Her gaze swept around the rooftops and then, she smiled.

"We will meet again turtles!" she shouted before racing across the remainder of the rooftop and jumping into the shadows.

Don growled, ready to give chase, but a dark green hand on his shoulder stopped him.

He glanced up into a face with his same blue eyes.

"Leave it alone Donny, we'll get her another day."

Heaving an irritated sigh, Don and Raph turned to face their older brother who was taking the swords Mikey had scooped up from before. Retrieving his own swords, the red banded turtle turned with a resigned look to his teacher. Leo had a glare in place, a disappointed emotion pooling in his eyes, his hands on his hips and his mouth was turned into an angry scowl.

Uh-oh, that meant punishments AND lectures.

* * *

"Not only did you three reveal yourselves' surviving existence to the leader of the Foot clan but you also put all of our lives in danger! You lied to me, you disobeyed my strictest direct order and forced me to fight an unnecessary and dangerous battle that nearly cost us our lives!"

The three turtles winced from the harsh voice as they sat before their sensei, gasping for breath after the harsh training session they had been put through. Furthermore punishments varied for each one them, Don was banned from his lab for one month, Mikey would be banished to the library except for meal times, patrols and training sessions for the next week, since banning him to his room where all his toys, comics and some video games were really wouldn't accomplish anything. Lastly, Raph's punishment hadn't been said aloud but Leo said there would be one.

As they sat side by side through the lecture Don crossed his arms and glared to his left where his red banded brother was sitting, "Sensei's probably just letting him off easy as always," he thought bitterly.

Of course, this was not true, as Raph much later discovered. After a 45 minute and 23 second long lecture, Don and Mikey were released into the kitchen to start a late dinner. When the door closed Raph looked curiously up at his older brother, who was glaring down at him.

The blue banded turtle himself had to admit though, that the lecture he had given had felt kind of, good. For those yelling moments, a certain power filled him, he almost felt like he was 16 again, but then when he did yell at the red clad turtle, Raphael only glanced shamefully towards the ground, he didn't yell and he didn't fight back like he used to. That's when the truth would return and the eldest found himself wanting to punch himself in the gut for being such an idiot. He couldn't lecture this way, he was lecturing the way he always had, the voice came from the turtle inside who expected a sarcastic remark to be thrown back at him or a very elaborated but irritating idea or point of view.

Of course, that was when they were just brothers and equal teammates. Leo mentally smacked himself, he had to remember that _he _was the teacher now, Raph wasn't just his brother and teammate, he was his student now as well. He couldn't remember a time that Raph had talked back to their father and sensei so it was a pretty good bet that Raph would never talk back to him like he used to. He held too much respect for his teacher.

Taking a page from his father's teachings, he came to a decision.

"Alright, Raphael," he said slowly and stoutly.

The red banded turtle, who was still kneeling, closed his eyes, prepared for a -Punch? -Lecture? He didn't know, that was what made it all bad, he _never _knew what his sensei was thinking.

"Your punishment will come into effect after dinner."

Raph looked up, surprised, "What?"

Leo narrowed his eyes as he looked down at his younger brother, "You won't escape punishment Raphael, but for now it must wait until after dinner, because I believe that dinner is ready."

Leo walked towards the door, stopping to turn and hold out a hand to Raph. The red banded turtle, still quite shocked from the previous declaration, reached up to take the offered hand. Then, as soon as they made contact Leo dropped his hand before narrowing his eyes at his immediate younger brother again.

"Learn to stand on your own Raphael."

With that, Leo exited the room, leaving Raph in complete and murderous silence.

* * *

Dinner was quiet, Leonardo not looking at any of them until the meal was finished. When he rose and Mikey turned to collect the dishes, since it was his night to complete that said chore, Leo reached out and stopped the youngest from picking the plates up.

"Forget the dishes Michelangelo, head to the library."

Mikey's shoulders slumped and je made his way to the most boring room in the lair.

"AFTER you put your game guy back in your room."

"Come on sensei!" he protested.

"NO VIDEO GAMES MICHELANGELO!"

Mikey almost pouted when a harsher glare from Leo sent him flying across their home, quickly depositing the game system in his room. He grabbed some comics and turned to exit his room-

"NO COMICS EITHER!" Leo shouted from the kitchen.

Mikey dropped them. HOW DID LEO DO THAT?

"YOU BETTER BE IN THE LIBRARY IN 30 SECONDS!"

Rushed, Mikey scooped up a few action figures. Leo hadn't said anything about them, right?

"MICHELANGELO!"

Mikey ran so fast his feet probably only hit the floor twice before he was in the defining quiet of the library. Leo knew how to teach Mikey with his childlike mind, make him sit still and be quiet with no visual or physical entertainment. That was of course, why he had chosen the library.

Back in the kitchen, Leo looked to Don, "Donatello, you'll take over Mikey's chores. In fact, you'll be taking over all of your brothers' chores."

"Uh, but…WHY?" the purple clad turtle asked, completely distraught at the news.

"With your lab off limits, you'll have plenty of free time. Mikey will be confined to the library, so move one of the cots in there. As for Raphael-"

Donny gritted his teeth and slammed his plate down on the table, "You're not punishing Raph! He's your favorite isn't he! You never punish him! He gets everything Mikey and I don't! You personally train him! You never punish him! He gets all your attention! You love him more don't you! He's your favorite!"

Don ended his yelling match by shoving the table, causing it to fly into Leo's leg, a large bruise sprouting on his thigh.

"DONATELLO THAT IS ENOUGH!" Leo yelled, silencing the entire room.

The eldest pointed to the doorway, "My room, NOW."

Don glared and stomped off.

* * *

A/N: Aw! We have a little Raph junior.

Don: I WILL KILL YOU! GET BACK HERE!

*Runs from sledgehammer wielding turtle.*

* * *

Leo took a deep breath and bent forward to grasp the table in front of him before he felt Raph walk up beside him. The screeching of something against the stone floor made him look back to see Raph was pulling around a chair for him.

"Here, have a seat sensei." Raph ordered caringly.

"Thank you," Leo said as he slumped down in the painted wooden chair.

Raph took a seat next to him, "Sensei?"

"Hmm?" Leo asked, still trying to work out all the complicated thoughts in his head.

"You said I used to be like that. In all those stories you told us."

Leo, despite all the chaos that had just occurred, reached out to rub the top of his brother's head affectionately with his a happy smile, "Yes you were quite the hothead."

Leo then took a deep breath, "Alright, I need to talk with Donatello. So your punishment starts right now, first of all clean off this table, do the dishes, clean the countertops, sweep the floor then mop it."

Raph inwardly sighed, those were most of the chores for the kitchen, only missing the garbage, which had already been taken out earlier, and spraying the walls, which was with a solution Don had invented to keep insects away as well as stopping the growth of moss.

When Leo finally entered his room, which was the second largest one in their home since his younger brothers had practically threatened with a firing squad to get him to stay in there, he saw that his purple clad brother was not sitting and sulking on the floor or in the wooden chair by the bookshelf, he wasn't fiddling with an electronic gadget he had snuck in, he wasn't reading one of the many books, his anger wasn't making him trash the room and he wasn't glaring defiantly up at his teacher. No, none of them. When the eldest's eyes fell on the form of his younger brother, his eyes softened and his prepared scowl fell into a pity-filled frown.

Then, he smiled as he tilted his head to the side. His genius, angry purple clad little brother was curled up in Leo's bed, sound asleep, with his mask stained around his eyes from what the blue masked turtle guessed to be tears. He sighed and shook his head. He was slowly using his ability to control his emotions. He didn't want to be mean and cruel to his little brothers, but he was more than their big brother that would cut them slack and take partial punishments from Splinter because he thought it was too harsh. Well, that Leo was gone and Splinter was gone.

Resigned that it could wait until tomorrow and that maybe he could reconstruct the punishments to be better suited to all of them, Leo turned towards a pile of stacked blankets near the door and picked up two of them before crossing the room and wrapping them around his little brother.

Donny didn't stir as Leo moved around the room and scooped up a picture frame. With a last smile at his sleeping brother, the blue clad turtle slipped out of the room and returned to the kitchen, where surprisingly, Raph was not.

"Where is that old hothead?" Leo wondered as he made his way into the main room. Distant cries from the library and soft comforting words following them assured the eldest that Mikey was being hit with the full impact of what had just transpired and a certain red banded ninja that used to be so hotheaded was now acting the role of big brother to the youngest.

With that, Leo silently slunk towards the doorway to the library and glanced around the corner discretely. Mikey was sitting on the floor, his shell against the wall as he sniffed. Had the punishment really upset him that much?

"Shh, Mikey it's ok. It'll be ok."

Leo then noticed that his immediate younger brother was by Mikey's side, placing a comforting arm around the youngest turtle's shoulders.

"They were fighting," Mikey breathed.

"Well, Donny was angry."

"But-"

"But what?"

"I-I had a dream the other night Raphie, another memory."

Raph's eyes widened and he reached out to turn Mikey towards him, "What was it?"

"Our father."

"You saw him?"

Mikey nodded, "But-"

"But what?"

"He, he sent Aniki away."

Raph then pulled Mikey towards him, when Mikey started using such affectionate terms for them, it meant he was really worried.

"Niisan?"

Yep, Mikey was definitely upset. With more than one term in Japanese meaning brother Mikey had divided them up between his three older brothers, of course these were never really heard until something happened, either something meaningful or something tragic.

Niisan, was the term he used for Raph, Aniki was of course, still Leo's and Oniisan was reserved for Donny.

"They were fighting," Mikey repeated, "Are they going to go away?"

Raph was speechless, he wasn't sure what to say to that. If it had happened before…

His thoughts were cut off when he heard Mikey murmur, "Aniki, Oniisan."

Raph snapped back into action, "Don't worry Mikey, neither one of them is going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

With that they hugged, then quickly split up when a cough had their gazes flying towards the doorway, where their sensei stood.

"Uh, hi Aniki," Mikey said and quickly hid the action figures he had snuck in behind his back, although he was sure that Leo had noticed them.

Leo did notice them and also mentally kicked his own shell for his actions. Now he had made two brothers cry, what kind of a teacher was he? A moment later, he answered his own question.

_A strict one._

"Ok," he thought, "Time to fix this."

He crossed the room and looked pointedly at Raph, who had scrambled to his feet a second before.

"Raphael wait for me in the dojo."

Raph nodded and bowed but he threw a last good-luck look at his youngest brother.

"Michelangelo," Leo began but was cut off.

"I know," Mikey said, drawing out the action figures and placing them at Leo's feet.

The eldest shook his head and knelt down in front of his baby brother before sweeping the action figures aside and staring strait back at the youngest turtle, who glanced back with a mix of hurt, fear and confusion.

"I'm sorry Michelangelo," Leo said.

"What?" Mikey asked, his confusion covering the hurt and fear in his eyes.

Leo sighed, "I'm sorry. I kind of went overboard with that punishment. How about just no video games for a-"

"Month?"

Leo smiled, "Just a week, minus the weekend."

"Really?"

Leo nodded with a smile. Mikey practically bounced onto his feet and embraced his eldest brother, pulling them both up.

"Domo Aniki," Mikey whispered.

Leo smiled and returned the soft embrace, "Now I do believe that you said something about a movie night. It'll have to be just us but-"

"That'll be great! I'll make popcorn!"

With that Mikey scooped up his action figures and ran out of the room. Leo wasn't sure to mentally punch himself again for letting Mikey off so easy or for making him cry in the first place. He HAD to work on this punishment thing. He then went to the dojo, where Raph was leaning against the wall polishing his swords and fingering the loose red wrappings around the handles.

"What happened?' Raph asked when he noticed his older brother standing in the room.

"Mikey's banned from his video games for a week. Like you're banned from leaving the lair for the next two weeks."

"What? Why two?"

"Knowing you, this lesson will take two weeks to sink in."

"I ain't that slow."

Leo laughed, "With life lessons yes, you usually are."

Raph pouted.

"Don't play a Mikey on me," Leo warned.

Raph huffed, "Why does it always with the knuckle head?"

"Because he's the baby of the family," Leo said, crossing the room and placing the picture frame he had gotten out of his room on a shelf.

Raph glanced at it. He recognized, his brothers, their human friends, their father but there was one-

"Hey sensei?"

"Hm?"

"Who's that on the far right?"

"That's the Ancient One."

"Who?"

"He was sensei of Master Yoshi. I've trained under him in the past."

"He must be good," Raph said with a smirk.

"You have no idea," Leo said while shaking his head, "Come on, me and Mikey are watching a movie, want to join us?"

Raph sheathed his swords, "Sure. Sounds like fun. What about Donny?"

"He's sleeping."

Raph's gaze fell to the bruise on Leo's leg, "You ok, you know, after that hit?"

Leo smirked and drew up his rare powers of sarcasm, "Sure, I'm always attacked by tables."

Raph let out a small laugh before the two started moving towards the door.

"Where are your sais?" Leo asked suddenly.

Raph pointed to the weapon cabinet across the dojo, "They feel kind of familiar, but I'm more honored to use the swords."

Leo smiled, that kind of respect they showed him was alien to him, he had gotten respect before, but not as much as he did now. So he wasn't going to complain.

* * *

20 minutes later, while Leo, Raph and Mikey were watching the movie the youngest had picked out, the door to Leo's room opened and a confused and hurt Donatello stumbled out into the main room.

"Hey Oniisan come watch the movie with us!" Mikey yelled.

Donny looked at Mikey, then at Leo and then at Raph when his look turned into a glare.

"Donatello?" Leo asked, climbing to his feet and walking over to his purple clad brother.

"What?' he asked a little harshly, trying to turn his head away.

"I'm sorry, that punishment was extreme, I guess I'm just reeling over all that's happening right now. It's very stressful but I'm sorry, I'm cutting down the punishment, it's just for a week and your chores aren't changing."

"Really?" Donny said in disbelief.

Leo smiled and nodded. Don laughed and outright hugged his eldest brother.

"And Don," Leo whispered as he saw Mikey and Raph turn their attention back to the movie, "I'm sorry if I don't give you much attention since you're the middle child. I apologize if I over look you a lot, I don't mean to, but I know it happens."

"It's ok Aniki," Donny whispered, slightly tucking his head under Leo's, a habit from when he was four that he had never really gotten rid of.

"BOOM!" Mikey shouted, making the others jump in surprise.

"Mikey! You dolt!" Raph yelled, slapping Mikey on the back of the head.

"What! That was a cool explosion?"

Leo and Don laughed as they joined their brothers on the couch.

"Hey sensei?" Mikey asked halfway through the movie.

"Yes Mikey?"

Mikey smiled at his sensei's rare use of his nickname, "After all that's happened, especially since the Foot's apparently back, could we maybe, if it's a good idea, go to the Farmhouse in Northampton?"

Leo seemed shocked for a moment before an easy smile spread across his face, "That's sounds like a great idea, for one, I NEED to get away from the city and a little vacation in the country seems to be an ideal distraction."

Unbeknownst to the turtles, especially to the youngest, the most adventurous and terrifying battle of their lives and the final leg of their journey was about to begin.

* * *

Okay, only one chapter left! SO REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

REVIEW PLEASE!

I'll try to post the final chapter this upcoming weekend, if there's no big project I have to finish for school.

PLEASE REVIEW!

~Moonsetta


	26. Ch 25 Forgotten Part 1

NOTICE TITLE: CHAPTER 25 PART 1!

I don't own the turtles.

* * *

"_Higher sensei! Higher!" Mikey called out, waving his arms around in the air like a young bird just learning to fly._

_Leo laughed as he slightly tossed his little brother into the air as he held him over his head._

"_I'm a air-pane! Brrrrrrrr ah!"_

"_Alright," the blue clad turtle said, putting his arms down with a relieved expression, "That's enough little one, time for bed."_

_Mikey frowned and sighed, "Kay Aniki."_

_The eldest scooped up the multi-colored baby blanket laying across the back of the couch and wrapped it around his youngest brother, who yawned before laying his head in the crook of his neck, mumbling coherent words, much like any 4-year-old child his age would when they were half asleep._

_The eldest passed through the main room of their new lair and made his way into his bedroom. The largest room in their new home had become their dojo and his little brothers, as young as they were, amazingly had forced their older brother to take the second largest room as his bedroom. Of course, until they could get more furniture, as in beds, the youngest turtles were sleeping on the single mattress Leatherhead had given them in Leo's room._

_Walking inside the said room, the blue clad turtle smiled affectionately to see that Raphael and Donatello were fast asleep, each curled up under the large and thick quilt April had given them. As Leo tucked the youngest in beside his other little brothers he smiled at the words they were mumbling._

"_On guard!" Raph shouted in his sleep, his arm twitching as if striking with a sword.._

_Don's words were incoherent, he didn't really say anything, but his fingers were twitching, repeating the motions he had been using for that day. All day, they had worked on the dojo, since the eldest had deemed it too dangerous to leave the lair. Donatello had found a bit of a woodsman in himself, the eldest had taught him to make a homemade bow and arrows. It was then that their dojo gained something they had never had before. They had always set targets up around the room but now an elongated part of the room had become an archery range, which the younger turtles couldn't wait to use._

_Leo turned his attention back to Mikey, who was fidgeting in his sleep._

"_Aniki…" he mumbled, obviously either having a nightmare or reliving a memory._

_The eldest frowned and placed a hand on his baby brother's forehead. It only took a few seconds for the warmth and comfort of his presence and touch to soothe the toddler back into peaceful slumber. Leo smiled, removed his hand and walked towards the door. _

_Once outside, he reached back to close the door, but not before gazing in and mumbling softly to the young tots, "Goodnight, my little ninja."_

* * *

"Sensei!" a voice called out, waking Leo from his meditation on the rooftop of the farmhouse.

He sighed in annoyance, got to his feet and walked to the edge of the rooftop to stare down at whoever was calling him.

"There you are," the voice called, relief cascading the form of the speaker.

"Is something wrong Donatello?" Leo asked loudly, so his younger brother could hear from his standing point on the ground.

"Mikey found something strange in the woods, and by strange I mean glowing blue light strange."

"Is it Rennet or Lord Simultaneous?" Leo asked after he jumped onto the ground below.

He may be older than the others, but he's wasn't a senior citizen as of yet.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Don said, his eyes sparking from the old sense of disappointment he had always thrown at Leo when his older brother tried to and frequently accomplished what he deemed was impossible. He reminded himself to start using the word improbable from now on.

Shaking away the thoughts Don quickly sprinted towards the woods, "Come on, everyone else is already there!"

Leo felt, what he deemed his 'ninja sense', acting up. He momentarily thought of the most recent Spiderman movie they had all watched the night before but shoved it away in favor of catching up to his younger, purple banded brother. Leo found it strange that he could sense the portal before the two even reached the area, meanwhile Don was still racking his brain to figure out the problem. As they approached the group, that consisted of Raph, Mikey, Casey and April, all indeed standing around a too familiar glowing portal, they heard the current conversation that the other turtles were having.

"I say we go through," Mikey said loudly.

"Oh no you don't! We ain't doing anything until Don comes back with Sensei."

"What's happening?" the blue banded turtle asked as he stepped out from behind the trees that were surrounding the group along with Donatello.

"We have no idea," April explained, motioning to the portal.

"Yeah dudes, when one of these things appear, usually Rennet comes out."

"Sensei?" Raph asked quietly, "I may be wrong and I hope I am, but I think she's in trouble."

"That's possible, why else would a time portal be opened and neither her nor Lord Simultaneous come out of it?"

"Unless…" Mikey breathed and froze.

"What is it Mikey?" Raph asked.

Mikey took a deep breath, his eyes widening as they jumped around at the trees, "Unless it was-"

"Stockman," Leo growled and then his eyes were scanning the trees as well as he withdrew his twin swords.

"You mean the crazy mad scientist is here!" Casey yelled, reaching down for a large stick since his baseball bats and hockey sticks were back at the farmhouse.

The entire group turned away from one another, scanned the trees and then all turned sharply at the sound of rustling leaves. It had been too heavy and deep a sound to just be the wind, especially considering there wasn't even any breeze to speak of. Leo stepped forward his cautious eyes looking at the tree branches above.

Rustle.

Maybe it was a bird, or a squirrel, maybe it was a chipmunk. The rustling quit and no sound followed. Leo raised an eye ridge then sheathed his swords with the knowing satisfaction that whatever had been there was now gone.

"SENSEI!"

Leo spun around quickly, his breath being taken away at the sight before him. The blue portal, acting like a live organism, had reached out with a stream of blue light that resembled the tentacle of an octopus and it was dragging Raph towards it. The others were waking at the tentacle of light.

"Hey, let go of my brother!" Don yelled, grabbing Raph's hand and pulling to try to counterbalance the force pulling his older brother towards the portal.

Donatello knew then that this had to have been a set up, it was Stockman's plan! How could he have been so stupid as to have not seen it? He only took his thoughts away from that when other hands joined his, pulling at Raph as the read banded turtle himself was trying to damage the portal with one of his swords.

"Sensei help us!"

But Leo was not jumping to the rescue, Don found himself battling three emotions as his eyes searched for his teacher, shock, disgust and betrayal. The eldest had simply sat under the nearest tree and had began to meditate. That idiot! They needed help now! DIDN'T HE EVEN CARE!

Leo then snapped his eyes open and the portal vanished, throwing Raphael on top of the others a few feet away.

"Alright, what the shell was that all about!" Raph yelled while climbing to his feet and scrambling off the others.

Many went to speak up before Leo silenced them, "An illusion."

"Dude, that seemed pretty real to me!" Mikey protested.

The eldest closed his eyes again for a moment before reopening them. He opened his mouth to speak before a voice made him jump back onto his feet and draw his weapons once again.

The voice was soft, a mumbling one did under their breath, just so they could hear it and no one else.

"_Skin to ashes…_

_Congealing blood…"_

The entire group got back to back again, all their weapons drawn, even though April's and Casey's were nothing more than simple sticks that they had scooped up from the ground. Better to have them than nothing, right?

The voice continued, the problem being that no one could pick out _exactly _where is was coming from, it seemed to be encircling them.

"_Rotting muscles…_

_Eyes to water…_

_Breath to air…_

_Heart to coal…"_

Leo snapped his head when he was convinced that he had located the source and jumped into one of the nearest trees.

"Sensei!"

Raph growled, "Stockman!"

The red banded turtle bounded up after Leo. Mikey and Don ran forwards, breathing heavy and gasping in physical exhaustion and fear. Just as they sat foot underneath the said tree there was a blinding blue light that they had all familiarized themselves with over the years.

"_Form to skeleton!"_

There was great rustling of leaves as the voice finished off what sounded like a spell and then heavy objects began hitting the branches above the youngest turtles' heads. Fear for something fall on them made them jump back but what fell from the tree made them drop to their knees in horror.

Four swords, two pair, Blue and red.

And what lay next to them…

Two…white…turtle skeletons.

"_Skin to ashes…_

_Congealing blood…"_

* * *

Hey everyone, that's the end. No, not of the story. You see, this last chapter isn't very long but I've split it in two for three reasons.

One, I haven't actually decided how to end this, I'm still working on it.

Two, I'm greedy and therefore want more reviews.

Three, I LOVE cliff hangers. Don't you?

Ha Ha! I loved writing this chapter and yes I know people are going to start asking and getting bored of me killing the turtles like this but believe me, it is essential that this happens for part 2.

Anyways, reviews please? Part 2 of this chapter needs some details and I just moved so any internet connection I pick up is shaky at best.

~Moonsetta


	27. Ch 25 Forgotten Part 2

I can hardly believe that I'm finally finishing this. *Sigh* I miss the little Turtle Tots.

*Picks up turtle tot Mikey* You guys are soooooo adorable! =^_^=

Anyway, all that cuteness aside a few announcements.

One, I want to thank all the readers out there for reading and commenting on this story. You all have made this my most popular story as of now. For some reason "You Have No Idea" is STILL popular! In second place. And I don't understand why!

Second, people should be aware by now, that despite the few sequels that have been partners to many of my stories I'm not really one to write them. The sequels came from peoples' requests and threats not from my writing ambition so I've done something I normally wouldn't do.

I have planned out sequels for three different stories but I'll only be writing **one. **Unless there's like 100 requests for the others. Anyways, there'll be a poll on my profile for the selections and of course, those who can't vote, if you leave the vote in a review in ANY of my stories, I'll count it.

Third, don't jump to conclusions about this conclusion. Since I will reveal what kind of ending it is (good, bad, sad or bittersweet) I can tell you that there will be no epilogue, so there will be no more waiting needed.

Forth, I have this story idea that I've posted a preview for, it's called Double Identity, I would like some more feedback on it.

Fifth, this list is too long and I better get a move on. To the chapter!

* * *

Time, Michelangelo found it such a funny thing. He thought about the seconds that made up the next minute of his life as his brother's flesh disappeared beneath his hands, the purple mask falling into nonexistence as the previous red and blue masks had. He wondered a million things at one moment.

How long was a second?

Why was time based on units of six?

Why did some people consider you nine months old when you're first born?

Why didn't all the months have an equal number of days?

With ten fingers and toes, you'd think the human race would base time on units of ten, wouldn't they?

Mikey jumped backwards as a blue light appeared before him.

"The very last…" a raspy voice whispered as the leaves rustled around the youngest turtle.

He didn't let his gaze wander. He kept his eyes on the tree, refusing to let them linger on the bleached white bones laying among the grass, dirt and leaves on the forest floors.

The rustling leaves stopped and Mikey felt a chill go up his spine. Had this happened to the ot-

His thought was cut off as his breath vanished and everything lit up light blue.

That day, in that clearing, the two nunchucks were the final two weapons to fall and along with them their owner fell, his skin disappearing and his skeleton clanking against it's own bones as they echoed the pitter patter of the morning dew from the treetops when they fell onto the ground.

* * *

"Mikey!" April shouted, falling to her knees by the skeleton, the orange mask outlining the eye sockets of nothing but dark emptiness.

"STOCKMAN! YOU LUNATIC!" Casey shouted, dropping his stick in favor of a large tree branch instead, glaring into the trees.

April, still kneeling by the bones that used to be the fun loving Michelangelo, reached out, her hands sinking into the strange softness the bones held.

"Those foolish reptiles were unmoral obstinate creatures that needed to be disposed of, and now, it's your turn."

"APRIL MOVE!" Casey shouted, pulling the red haired woman from the blue light that appeared before them.

"You two are little trouble to me," the voice said again.

"Casey, is it just me, or does his voice sound robotic?" April asked, half still frozen in horror at the skeletons around them of their friends.

"I don't care! I'll rip out his throat when I get my hands on him!" Casey yelled, randomly selecting a spot of rustling leaves in one of these trees and jumping into it.

"CASEY WAIT!" April yelled but then fell back when the hard headed vigilante came flying out of the tree and landed painfully on her.

"Get off me you bum!" the red haired woman yelled.

"Who you calling a bum!" Casey yelled back.

Stockman's voice returned, scratchy as ever, "Perhaps I don't need to-"

BAM!

"Ok creepy guy, that's enough!"

The tree branches of a tree behind the two humans rattled before the thump of metal against dirt sounded out against the distant flock of birds dancing in the sky.

* * *

_Bones of black and of white_

_Within and Without_

_Their final battle_

_They became time's adversaries_

_And fell to ashes_

* * *

Two weeks later April would stand in the same clearing, breathe the same air, smell the same scents and feel the same ground underneath her feet. Still, it would be different.

Time. It was on her mind, on everyone's mind.

She could still recall the aftermath of the battle when Lord Simultaneous and Rennet had come to her and Casey's rescue. They had surprised Stockman and banished him into the past. Rennet's reaction to the skeletons that laid on the ground was nothing short of how the red haired woman had felt.

"_Lord Simultaneous please do something!" Rennet begged her master._

_Lord Simultaneous had attempted to reverse the spell that had banished the turtles into instantaneous death, but every attempt was met with failure. _

_A shake of the head…there was nothing he could do._

"_The spell is everlasting."_

"Babe?"

April turned to see her boyfriend standing some feet away from her.

"They didn't deserve it," she said, gazing back to where her eyes were almost certain would be their final sight before they closed permanently.

"Of course not, come on babe, we gotta get back."

The silence that was there could be described as a sadness like the sight of a funeral parlor. Motion and sound were like far away sweets, but this would be a repeat of every instance you feel that little tug at your heart, knowing that something was missing from the stance that's held by the observer.

April turned and almost took a step away when it felt like something intangible shot through her chest.

"Wait," she said to Casey before turning and walking back into the clearing where the turtle bones laid in silence, still twisted and turned as they had previously fallen.

She glanced at the one that had stood for innocence, energy and joy, the orange shining bright as the midday sun crept through the leaves on the trees like a wayward mouse and laid a blanket of the sunshine over what was meant to remain.

Then, she glanced at the second, there was a particularly patch of dead, brown grass and when the wind blew over this patch of grass, it seemed to give off the gray hue of the brain, for this being had stood for intelligence, care and clarity.

The third and forth skeletons were tangled together but April had little to think but about the passion, protection and care they had offered their family and friends.

She went to turn away from them for a final time until an unusual, carefully observed, scientific fact metaphorically slapped her in the face. She turned back to them again and she wasn't sure what emotion it was that bloomed by the observed fact but it made part of her want to smile. A smile of accomplishment although, this smile was never physically seen.

The blue flash of color among the white bones was looped in a large O, and hung a little to the right. April, through her scientific mind, looked at one skull and then the other. They were the same. That magic or curse, whatever it had been had also accomplished what had been desired. Walking back out of the forest and to a worried boyfriend, April glanced up.

Were they really up there? In that heaven of everlasting peace and tranquility? April nearly smirked as she mentally answered her last question.

Only time would tell.

Over the years, she would look back at that spot. The bones were gone, the masks and weapons resting with their last home beneath New York City, but she would look back and imagine how time was such an unpredictable enemy. Everything had been good after a glance into the darkest corner that had made up most of their lives.

Even when her bright red hair turned grey and her final trip to the cozy farmhouse in Northampton came, she looked back and could smile at the conclusion that stained the air with a sempiternal gust of memories.

The lost memories and the fear that had been present. The eldest had always wished that his brothers would return to him and they had.

Yes, in death, the family that had stood together so long ago had come together yet again.

* * *

Oh come one, people totally didn't expect this? I warned everyone that there might have been a sad ending and now I will reveal which choice on the poll stood for which ending.

All Turtles 16-Sad Ending

Surprise Me-Happy Ending

Keep the Turtle Tots-Bittersweet Ending

Well, that wraps this one up. Hate me for it if you want but I had fun writing this. Anyway, see you all in my next story.

Oh and a last few reviews would be admired for all time!

~Moonsetta


	28. Alt Ending Clank and Clatter

Hi everyone, well here's the happy ending you've been waiting for.

This goes out to Who, who always cheers for me and encourages my writing. YOU ROCK!

And this also goes out to Anju Styx who personally messaged me with a request for an alternate ending.

Also, after some thought and many writing flops I've just decided to post the happy ending. Actually, this one was my original ending, I just thought it was too predictable and wouldn't get many responses.

Now, for the angry responses I received for the sad ending, I was actually expecting to receive those kind of responses so don't worry about hurting my feelings.

Truth Seeker, THANK YOU! I didn't think anyone would get that because of how abstract it was and I want to thank you for respecting my decision to make the ending sad, I rarely see that from readers.

Anyways, to ye that remain, here's the happy ending.

_

* * *

_

Recap:

"_Those foolish reptiles were unmoral obstinate creatures that needed to be disposed of, and now, it's your turn."_

_"APRIL MOVE!" Casey shouted, pulling the red haired woman from the blue light that appeared before them._

_"You two are little trouble to me," the voice said again._

_"Casey, is it just me, or does his voice sound robotic?" April asked, half still frozen in horror at the skeletons around them of their friends._

_"I don't care! I'll rip out his throat when I get my hands on him!" Casey yelled, randomly selecting a spot of rustling leaves in one of these trees and jumping into it._

_"CASEY WAIT!" April yelled but then fell back when the hard headed vigilante came flying out of the tree and landed painfully on her._

_"Get off me you bum!" the red haired woman yelled._

_"Who you calling a bum!" Casey yelled back._

_Stockman's voice returned, scratchy as ever, "Perhaps I don't need to-"_

_BAM!_

_"Ok creepy guy, that's enough!"_

_The branches of a tree behind the two humans rattled before the thump of metal against dirt sounded out against the distant flock of birds dancing in the sky._

* * *

Pain coursed through Don's limbs as the genius turtle opened his eyes and stared into thick darkness. He rested a hand against the crown of his head and sat up. He was, in a bed? Another groan echoed through the room after his.

"Sensei?" the purple clad turtle asked with a slight waver in his voice.

"No, it's me Don," the red banded turtle said as he too sat up on something that indeed felt like a bed.

"Dude, did anyone get the number of that truck that hit us?" Mikey's voice said as it's owner got to his feet in the darkened room.

"Where are we?" Don asked, also climbing to his feet, "And where's sensei?"

"Well, let's find out," Raph said, the springs in the bed rebounding as the weight of the turtle lifted off of it.

But they didn't need to move another inch, because at the moment, the door opened, momentarily blinding them. Then, a voice rang out.

"Finally, you guys can sleep forever."

"Aniki!" Mikey shouted and ran forward into the bright light where his arms wrapped around the familiar grassy green skin of his eldest brother.

Lights flickered on inside the room, revealing that they were in the attic at the farmhouse.

"Aniki?" Leo said as the younger turtles' eyes adjusted to the bright light, "Mikey, you haven't called me that since we were eight."

"but-"

"No buts," Leo said holding his hand out for silence as the orange banded turtle backed away his eyes suddenly matching the now just noticed eyes of Raphael and Donatello.

All were staring at the oldest turtle with wide eyes and dropped jaws. He was young, less scars covered his skin, his skin itself was a lighter color, his eyes shone with youth they hadn't seen before and his stride towards them held more energy than they had ever recognized.

"Are you three ok?"

"Uh, sensei, what happened?" Don asked, finally managing to make his mouth work.

At first Leo glanced to each of his sides and then behind him before running a hand down his face and turning to face his younger brothers again with a sigh, "Ok, you were obviously having a dream about Master Splinter I don't know what happened last night, but maybe I shouldn't leave for camping again."

He turned to his red banded brother, raising an imaginary eyebrow, "Are you ok? Raph?"

Coincidentally, the normally hot headed turtle could only stare before he felt suddenly woozy and he looked about ready to fall back onto the bed, fortunately his older brother grabbed him before he could plummet downwards.

Placing a hand on the younger turtle's head Leo sighed again, "You've got a fever."

He turned his brother towards the mattress piled high with blankets, "Back to bed Raphael."

"Ok," was the mumble the eldest heard as his usually rebellious younger brother crawled within the warm bundle of blankets, his eyes still wide and staring down at the white sheets.

"What? No smart remark?" Leo said, hoping to get some kind of rise out of Raphael.

"Nah," the red banded turtle said as he forced his shocked eyes to shut and still partially dropped jaw to yield to his thoughts for the moment.

Confusion face in place Leo turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder, only to meet the onyx shared eyes of his genius younger brother, "Yes Don? Are you feeling sick?"

"Sensei, what-" but he was cut off.

"Sensei?" Leo questioned, "Don something must be wrong with you too. I'm your brother not your teacher."

"But-"

"Enough, you go back to bed too."

"Aniki?" Mikey asked, walking up, hugging his eldest brother from behind and laying his head against his shell.

The blue clad turtle's eyes filled with protective concern, as he turned and embraced the youngest with confusion still clouding his face, eyes and thoughts. The youngest sighed before tucking his head under the eldest chin and cuddling into the warmth of his hold much like a toddler would.

For Leo, he wasn't exactly sure how to say, 'What the shell is wrong with you!' while his baby brother was acting so, affectionate.

"Hmm," the blue masked turtle said as he rubbed a soothing hand across Mikey's shell, "Maybe you should go back to bed too. You three must have ate something."

"But Stockman! And the purple gas! And us being toddlers again! And the Foot! And Karai! And Leatherhead in that pink apron! And our lair exploding! And then you and Raph being skeletons!" Don yelled, obviously not caring that everything that he had said was a carry on sentence.

Thinking it was the right thing to say, Leo brought it up, "That was numerous carry on sentences."

"Sensei, this has nothing to do with meat!" Don protested, still standing beside his bed, his brain obviously not functioning well.

Leo frowned and pushed his youngest brother towards his bed, "Back to bed. All of you. Whatever it is that you guys ate last night, sleep the effects off before coming downstairs."

With that the eldest left the room, forgetting that he had left the lights on.

"Dude, was it all…" Mikey paused before shaping his mouth around each syllable of the word, "A…dream?"

"I-I guess so," Don said breathlessly, leaning back onto the pillow, allowing his mind to shuffle through the thoughts and memories that were hitting each other inside his head rapidly like crazy kids riding bumper cars.

"Wait! Raph's swords" Mikey yelled and turned as the red banded turtle sat up with wide eyes.

Don pushed his way through his clouded thoughts so he could look up at his red banded older brother as well. The red masked turtle touched his hand to his shell but met no sheaths. A touch to his plastron concluded that he wore no shoulder strap to hold the sheaths anyways. He glanced over to see Mikey's nunchucks and Don's bo staff resting beside their beds so he glanced down hoping and succeeding in spotting red wrapped handles on the ground.

Don and Mikey breathed sighs of relief, so they hadn't gone crazy.

"Uh, bros?"

The youngest turtles looked back as Raph took a hold of the red wrapped handles that were sticking out from under the shadows beneath the bed and pulled out two…

Sais. Not swords.

"It was a dream," Don murmured.

"But, it was so real," Mikey protested, still remembering the feel as his 16 year old eldest brother held his four year old toddler form against his own yellow plastron and hummed a lullaby under his breath while wrapping the youngest turtle in a warm blanket.

He remembered that. Donny vouched that he still remembered the larger dark grassy green hands encircling his own as he bent a wooden stick backwards to attach the string of his homemade bow which he would fire arrows out of at their archery range in the dojo that they had all built together.

Raph vouched that he remembered a lot as well, but he didn't share the memories. They were so real, so fresh, like they had just happened yesterday and as the three turtles drifted off, all seeming to look past the fact that they had left the light on, the memories came flooding back into each of their minds.

_

* * *

_

"Aniki," Mikey whined, "Why can't we go with you?"

_"It's too dangerous," Leo said, as he had many times before._

_"But we'll be good," Raph joined in with the begging._

_"I wouldn't put you three in danger."_

_"But why can't we stay with Leatherhead?" Raph asked._

_"He's away from his home," Leo answered, his eyes traveling to the window, "This is the only place I trust is safe for you. So stay safe. You. Must. Stay. Here. Understand?"_

_"But-"_

_Leo narrowed his eyes and the younger turtles lowered their heads, "Yes, Aniki."_

_

* * *

_

The red clad turtle was still staring at the floor, twisting his foot nervously against the yellow stones.

_"Stop that," the eldest said sharply but silently, "You could cut your foot on one of those."_

_Raph frowned deeply and just stood still, his arms pressed tightly against his sides shamefully as he continued to stare at the floor, "Gomenasai Aniki."_

_

* * *

_

Leo handed the three turtle tots to Leatherhead before turning to April and Casey, "Take the BattleShell and head for the farmhouse in Northampton."

_The eldest turtle turned to the doors and forced them open._

_"Leo?" April asked, fear enlacing her voice._

_"Leo you can't!" Casey protested._

_Leo looked back at his younger brothers, all of their wide eyes shining with worry and fear._

_"Aniki?" they asked with whimpers as they reached out to him, "Aniki!"_

_Leo walked over and nuzzled their foreheads, "You three go with Leatherhead, April and Casey."_

_"But Aniki!" Raph protested._

_Leo forced himself to turn away and he drew his swords, a glint in his eyes._

_"ANIKI!" the three tots shouted as their older brother disappeared out the door._

_The doors closed just as they saw a black clothed Foot ninja aim their sword for Leo's head._

_"NO! ANIKI!"_

_

* * *

_

Mikey sniffed suddenly after a minute of serene silence, "What are we going to do if Aniki's-"

_"Don't worry," Raph said quickly, not letting the youngest finish his sentence, "Your big brother's still gonna take care of you."_

_"But Aniki's-" Donny protested before Raph shushed him._

_"You still have me. I'll take care of you. I promise," Raphael said, pulling his little brothers closer._

_Mikey and Donny snuggled into the comfort they were being offered._

_For the young turtles, for just a moment, everything was ok. They stood together, as they knew they would in the future._

* * *

"_You didn't have to do that," April said._

_Leo glanced down at the orange masked turtle tot that was curled up in his lap, "Yes I did."_

_Yes, he had done it. That was his only chance to regain them but he would give it up again. If he hadn't, Mikey would've paid the ultimate price._

_"So what are you going to do now?" April asked, watching humorously as Raph and Donny shuffled to the front of the BattleShell, still half asleep, and climbed into Leo's lap, each of them throwing a protective arm around Mikey._

_Leo lowered his eyes and ran a soothing hand down each of the toddler's shells before looking through the window and up towards the sky once again, "I guess we just move forward and see where the wind takes us."_

_

* * *

_

When a few hours had passed Don called a halt to the work and said that they should get back to Leatherhead's before Aniki woke up or the mutant crocodile returned.

_"But can't we fix it up more? I was going to paint the walls," Mikey said, holding an old and mostly washed out set of paints and a toothbrush, since he couldn't find a paint brush._

_"Come on," Don said stoutly, "Aniki will be up soon and Leatherhead may come home to update his security system early."_

_They all sighed at the feelings of disappointment washing over them._

_"Don't worry Mikey," Raph said, slinging an arm over his youngest brother's shoulders, "We'll come back tomorrow and fix it up more. We can work on it every day until it's done and then we can surprise Aniki."_

_"Yay! A surprise!" Mikey said as he clapped._

_

* * *

_

It became quite a battle to get furniture down the ladder and into the home but with Leatherhead's strength this became highly possible. Hours later, all seemed to be in order. The tots though, agreed that they were missing a few things. There were no beds. Leatherhead responded to this by saying they could use the mattress he had lent them at his home. The turtles also decreed that there wasn't a space marked off for a 'forbidden room'.

_This made the two humans and crocodile look at them questioningly._

_"What's a forbidden room?" Casey asked and got whacked on the head with a long plastic pole by Donny, "You uncompleted baffling lacking intelligence organism, it's a room no one but Aniki can go into."_

_"What did he just call me?" Casey asked._

_Leatherhead and April chuckled while Raph and Mikey shrugged their shoulders at one another in hopeless understanding._

_

* * *

_

He remembered that his little turtle toddler brothers had practically shoved him into largest bedroom and said it was his. Looking around at the wide space, the eldest was now certain, he didn't know how to fill so much space. He shook his head and slipped outside his room before walking towards the kitchen.

_When he stepped into the kitchen, he glanced up to see three, 16-year-old, teenage mutant ninja turtles staring back at him._

_"Morning Sensei!"_

* * *

On the first floor, Leo breathed a sigh of relief.

"Did they buy it?" Casey asked from where he and April were sitting on the couch, some kind of old boxing show playing across the television screen.

"Yep, and I've hidden away Raphael's swords and replaced them with his sais."

"Good," April said stoutly with a proud smile, "You shouldn't overlook details."

"What about the whole, new lair thing?" Casey asked, stating the obvious.

"I took care of that," said a bubbly voice from the front door.

Rennet was there, leaning against the closed door with a satisfied smile. She giggled and then smiled at the blue banded turtle, "And it's so totally cool, Lord Simultaneous said that since I was able to fix everything, my two months of dusting was reduced to only a week."

"I'm eternally in your debt Rennet," Leo said, bowing his head to her.

"Oh you don't need to be so thankful I should be the one thanking you," the Timestress said, "Without all this happening I wouldn't have been promoted or my punishment softened. Oh, I better get back, sorry it took so long Leo but you know how the whole time thing goes, we aren't really aware of it passing by."

"Year, 12 years of it," Casey said with a smirk.

"Casey!" April yelled.

"Ow! My ear!"

Leo laughed and shook his head, saying a short goodbye to Rennet as she vanished in a blue light.

That blue light still made him shiver from memories but he fought them off with thoughts on the current situation.

"So when are you gonna tell them?" Casey asked, rubbing his now painful ear.

The blue clad turtle sighed, "In a week, after we get back home. Rennet said that's how long it'll take for ALL of their memories to return to them."

"But Leo?" April asked.

"Hmm?" Leo inquired.

"Will they still remember, you know, what Stockman did?"

The eldest turtle glanced down at the floor as he leaned against the wall, "I'm not sure," then he smirked as a thought entered his head, "I guess we just move forward and see where the wind takes us."

April smiled, remembering when Leo had said that exact line to her.

"So what happens now?" Casey asked.

"We're going to leave tomorrow evening and return to New York," Leo said.

"I'm sure glad Rennet and Lord Simultaneous showed up when they did and that they could reverse time on you and Raph so you two wouldn't be permanent skeletons," April said.

Leo shivered as a shock ran down his spine, "Don't remind me, please. That's one experience I wish Rennet _would _wipe from my mind."

* * *

A week later, the four turtles were back in their new lair, although they had trouble deciding which memories were real and which were the fake ones they were now positive that they had dreamed. Throughout that week the memories before their 'accident' or their 'dreams' started streaming into their minds.

Leo breathed a hidden sigh of relief when his three younger brothers had eventually accepted their encounter with Stockman as simple 'dreams' and when the week ran out, he hadn't spoken a word. Maybe it was better that they had forgotten that it had truly been a reality.

"Dude, if that was a dream, it was a really long dream!" Mikey said as he jumped back from Don's bo staff as he tried to swipe the orange banded turtle's feet out from under him.

"I've inferred that it was that pizza we ate the night before when Leo and April went on that camping trip in the woods," the genius turtle explained as he planted his right foot and swung around, trying to trip his younger brother with his foot while simultaneously driving his bo staff forwards to land a strike on the youngest turtle's left shoulder.

"Then why didn't Casey have the dream too? He ate the pizza like us," Mikey asked, jumping back and catching Don's foot within the chain of one of his nunchucks while the other flew forwards for direct contact with the bo staff.

"Oh, it could've been a million different things Mikey."

While the two continued to spar Raph was looking through the weapons cabinet, "Have either of you seen my shuriken?"

"They're probably somewhere in that lost world, called your room," Don said, performing a back flip to pull his foot from the chain of Mikey's nunchuck.

Raph huffed, his room wasn't _that _bad, Don obviously had him confused with Mikey. The red clad turtle's room may have been messy but Mikey's always looked like a tornado had passed through it. Ignoring the two Raph pushed aside a box of kunai knives and then froze as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, he was convinced, all the way to the floor.

For there in the weapon cabinets, slightly protruding from underneath a loose board in the back, were two swords, their handles, wrapped in red.

Raph felt the smirk grow on his face, "Hey guys, why don't give our sensei a little surprise?"

As for what happened next, one could call it a joyful and fulfilling learning experience or one could label it the backlash quietness of the century, either pne you prefer. Since that moment only fate would decide which blades would dance among the rooftops and throughout the alleyways of NYC.

THE END

* * *

I'm done! I'm done! I'm done!

YYYYAAAAAYYYY!

Ok, is everyone happy with this happy ending?

Well, strange as it is, I tell you, someone out there better come up with something interesting soon, I'm getting bored of TMNT fan fiction, I've either read the story a million times over or the story just isn't getting continued! It's driving me insane! Putting that behind me, I'm thinking of all of the other fan fiction I've written. I remember that I started off writing Sonic the Hedgehog fan fiction, then I went to Naruto and lastly I came to TMNT fan fiction.

Plain and simple, when I wrote the Sonic fan fiction it was no good and all my Naruto fan fiction was based on…if you can believe it…romance. UGH!

For some reason, I'm starting to like Sonic the Hedgehog again, although this is so ironic. When it comes to TMNT I like Leo, the responsible, blue clad, cool headed leader and Raph was probably my least favorite character because of his hotheadedness but when I look to the Sonic universe my favorite character is actually the stubborn, easily angered, rage red echidna, Knuckles.

Go figure? O_o

Enough of that though, a few final reviews please? I want to know which ending you prefer, the sad or the happy.

~Moonsetta


End file.
